Rebirth like no other
by JamminJuniberries
Summary: Harry has been the Master of Death for several millenia, and lived countless lives in that time. Most of these lives involve a world-saving scenario, and he just wants to kick back and relax for once. Death provides a suitable universe, a videogame become reality
1. Prologue

When Harry Potter had first died and appeared in the metaphorical Kings' Cross Station, Dumbledore had called death 'The Next Great Adventure.' After several hundred experiences with dying, talking to Death, and going through new lives, Harry knew more about the 'Great Adventure' than his old mentor could ever imagine.

Returning to the white glare of King's Cross Station once more, Harry looked at the manifestation of the border of life and death. The alternate realities available for reincarnation were fittingly represented by trains. Designs on the trains showed off features of each dimension, giving hints of what to expect from each life. It was interesting to see the number of trains fluctuate as lives were lived and dimensions went through their own periods of creation and destruction. A good number of tracks had trains with multiple carriages, each carriage representing a different interesting point in the history of the dimensions.

"Welcome back, Master," an entity cloaked in liquid darkness rasped as it approached Harry.

"Hello, Death."

"Souls are something not often studied in universes, but this world of alchemy you explored was much more informed than the rest."

"The homunculi were a very peculiar study, and this form of alchemy is very different from my birth world's. It was much more violent, even just repairing objects was an incredibly vicious experience, what with the lighting and all."

Harry summoned a book from the dragon hide messenger bag he'd spelled with an overpowered undetectable space extension enchantment of his own creation. The book had runic wording on its cover, titled A Treatise of Beginner's Alchemy. Flipping open to an early page, Harry placed a shattered whistle on the ground and traced a circle in the air with the Elder Wand, drawing a design of light matching the runic circle in the book. He activated the alchemic formula with a jab, and a light show of multicolored sparks surrounded the broken whistle. After a few seconds the display died down, revealing a shiny whistle in pristine condition.

"I see what you mean. Did you succeed in combining your magic with this new world's?" Death asked after witnessing Harry's display.

"Combining the alchemy with my own was difficult, but I managed to combine the recipes for the different Philosopher's Stones to create one able to bypass alchemic requirements without using souls," Harry stated proudly, showing off a maroon crystal darker than either of the Stones he'd seen before. It gave off a powerful neutral aura, completely different from either the darkness of the soul-crafted Philosopher Stone or the light of the magic-crafted one. He returned the crystal and the book to his bag before turning back to the trains.

"I'm going to spend some time in the manor before I go to another life. I need to build another room for the items and artifacts from this adventure, and create another wing of the library for the books," he said after a while. Death simply nodded and stepped back before fading out of existence, leaving Harry alone in the station. The wizard placed his bag on the ground and unzipped the back panel, flipping it open to reveal a ladder descending into a pocket space that held the rebuilt Potter Manor. [1]

The bag dimension had no source of light [2, so Harry had been unable to grow plants from the dimensions he'd visited. Now that he had created a 'Philosopher's Crystal,'[3] Harry could create a miniature sun in the dimension. Using his second completed crystal, as he planned to display the first, Harry drew an alchemic circle representing fire on the crystal, and added many different runes for sustainability and flame from the different magical languages he'd picked up on his adventures. By the time he was finished, not a single face on the rock was unmarked.

"Alright, it's go time," Harry whispered to himself as he pulled out the Elder Wand. He levitated the stone into the sky and started pumping magical energy into it. After several minutes, the stone was glowing brightly, and Harry quickly made the wand motions to circle the energy throughout the stone before backing away. From the safety of the manor and wards, he watched as cracks appeared on the crystal, connecting the runes. When the last shape, the alchemic circle he drew first, was connected, the stone exploded into bright light.

Once the spots had faded from his eyes, Harry was able to see a ball of flame hovering well above his manor, making the area raise several degrees as it heated up. The wizard whooped in joy before running out to the garden he'd had prepared since the manor was first built.

The greenhouse that the garden was in was also space expanded, with rooms separated by climate[4] then dimension. Harry had been taught gardening and herbology by Neville in his first life and often used the practice in each of his reincarnations, so he was well aware of the ideal growing methods for each of the plants he'd picked up. Some time later, the Master of Death had finished planting and began to set up the growth ward stones. These stones used growing spells mixed with wards to increase the yield and growth rate of the plants, providing bountiful harvests without harming the soil too much.

"I'll finally be able to create potions with plants from different dimensions!" Harry cried. Potions had always been something he was good at, but like his avoidance of Slytherin house due to Malfoy, he'd avoided the subject because of Snape. After the war ended, Harry had studied the subject in 8th year to be able to both join the Aurors and study healing magic. He had become quite adept at brewing in the process.

Because of the different magical and weather environments in each life, the wizard hadn't often been able to experiment much with combinations of ingredients. Now, though, he'd have a large collection waiting for him to use, and many more growing at a steady pace.

A few days later, according the clock hung in the manor as the miniature sun was stationary, Harry emerged from his potions lab. The front of the dragon hide bag now contained several new potions of various colors and consistencies, waiting to be used after thorough testing with simulations and animals. As exciting as brewing was to the wizard, it wasn't something to be done without pause for any longer than a week, even with refreshing and wakefulness spells.

During his time at the manor, Harry had also created a new room, well warded for both containment and protection. Each room was designed in accordance to the style of the dimensions its artifacts came from. Especially dangerous artifacts were kept in their own rooms in the manor's underground vault, sealed with soul wards bound to only Harry. The items in these sealed rooms ranged from the flute of the Pied Piper to maginuclear bombs.[5]

After creating the new room and placing the new books in the library, Harry turned to his workshop to tinker one last time before he would reincarnate. His weapon of choice was a scythe, gifted to him by Death on his first millennium birthday. The staff had a collection of beads hanging on a string connected to the joint of the blade and body. After each reincarnation, Harry would add a bead to this string. When placed in a slot in the body of the scythe, the beads would transform the scythe into a weapon or tool created from all of Harry's accumulated knowledge for each reality.

Several days later, Harry finally returned to the manifestation of King's Cross Station and summoned Death.

"Master, which life are you going to next?" Death asked, observing Harry as the wizard played with the scythe beads.

"I've been picking and choosing for too long, I think my standards need an update. Can you pick something for me? Somewhere I don't need to suffer from a hero complex please," the wizard asked with a sigh. Reliving themes of prophecy and world-saving had gotten dull over the years, but it was difficult to find a life that balanced adventure and irresponsibility. The last one had been a post-apocalyptic wasteland a few centuries back. It was difficult to have a world-saving situation when the world was already destroyed.

Death hummed and tilted its head, observing the trains in the station. It finally settled on a vehicle decorated with unique monsters and lines of code moving quickly across its surface.

"This one should be a good choice for you. You will be an adult already when you get there, so no need to store your items in a pocket dimension. I'd describe the world, but you are probably better off experiencing it yourself," the entity stated. Harry gathered up his bag and other items, putting on a set leather armor he'd grabbed from a version of Asgard in his early incarnations. After double and triple-checking himself, the Master of Death boarded the train, readying himself for a new adventure.

* * *

[1]

Notes on theory:

•Not a room-space like Moody's trunk

•Creating a room-space is an alchemical ritual that requires the materials for the base structure of the room to be on hand

•Panel is a stabilized wormhole, based off The Veil and Harry's own dimension hopping experiences

•Dimension is NOT spontaneously created - instead, it is a newer dimensions that has yet to establish life of its own

[2]

•Harry chose an asteroid far from any planet that would be inhabited any time soon

•A self-made ritual based on the bubble-head charm was used to create an atmosphere and warm up the place

[3]

•Named as such because it was made with a heptagonal (seven being a powerful number in more than just magic) crystalline molecular structure instead of the typical alchemical transfiguration of a Fire Ruby (HP-verse) or Grand Elixir made of distilled souls

[4]

•Magic can be used to alter an environment, but the new climate is unsustainable

•Rituals used to create segmented greenhouses utilize magic energy to start, and solar energy to sustain


	2. Chapter 1: Reaching A New World

Above the icy plains of Yggdrasil's Helheim, a storm raged. Lying on the ground was the Master of Death. After a particularly close lightning strike, Harry's eyes snapped open. He felt for his bag, sighing in relief once his hand found the familiar dragon hide. His scythe had been transformed into a replica of the [Sword of Gryffindor], and was tucked into a scabbard at the wizard's hip. Harry stood up, wiping the rain off his face and discreetly placing a water-repelling charm in the process. He looked around, seeing dark plains dotted with dark figures. There were no buildings in sight, but off in the distance Harry saw swamp trees. He headed towards the flora, hoping to get out of the rain.

Once the wizard had reached the trees, he sat down to clear his cluttered thoughts. After a few minutes, his breathing became labored and his face dripped with sweat. Looking inwardly to find what could cause the phenomenon, the wizard's eyes widened.

"Poison!? This purple fog is more than it seems!" Harry exclaimed, opening his bag to search for potions. He grabbed a general antidote and gulped it down, relieved when the effects of the poison faded. Quickly applying a Bubblehead charm, he returned to his meditation while waiting for the rest of the poison to be purged. Categorizing his thoughts and creating a mental list, Harry ran through what he needed to do.

"First, I should look around for any buildings. This storm doesn't seem like it will pass anytime soon, and a roof is better than this thin canopy. Once I do that, I should make some food. Reincarnating seems to have taken a lot of my energy this time around, since I appeared in this world fully grown. Swapping out my sword for a gun is a must, since I don't want to tangle with whatever can survive in this poison fog." Harry ran through a few more ideas before grabbing a golden helmet from his bag.

The helmet had six turquoise gems set into the front, and several lightning and cloud shaped pieces attached to a ring at the top. This was the [Thunder Helm] Harry had earned from a desert race know as the Gerudo. It's enchantments made the wearer immune to any form of lightning, which was perfect for Harry to fly through the storm. The wizard quickly put on the helmet and lifted off the ground into the storm.

—

Meanwhile, several figures appeared next to a large stone ring. This was the Teleportation Gate for Helheim. The group of figures was the newly established guild, Ainz Ooal Gown. As the last of the 38 figures appeared, a large skeleton called out.

"Alright everyone, the Tomb of Nazarick should be nearby. Do we all have antidotes?" The undead asked, receiving a chorus of affirmative shouts in return. "Alright then, let's head out!"

The group quickly moved towards a nearby swamp, following the skeleton and the glistening paladin at his side.

A few miles away, and several hundred feet up, Harry was gliding through the clouds. The [Thunder Helm] negated any lightning strikes, and a water-repelling charm kept his vision clear and his clothes dry. After a few minutes, the rain suddenly stopped. The wizard immediately halted.

"I must be in the eye of the storm. It seems like a perfect circle of dryness," Harry muttered to himself. "Well, as long as its dry, I can just use a tent."

Harry quickly landed. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the wizard's eyes widened and he shifted into a defensive stance. A large stone building had appeared in front of him when he had landed! Lifting a little off the ground in preparation to fly away, Harry noticed the building disappear again.

"Is it some kind of modified Fidelius? I can only see it when I'm not flying. It's an interesting ward idea, definitely useful to hide from planes," Harry thought to himself as he touched down again, ready to fight should someone appear. After a few minutes with nothing changing, the wizard relaxed fractionally. "Well, I was looking for a building to stay in. This stone temple seems as good as any other option."

Having decided on a course of action, Harry walked towards the steps leading into the temple. As soon as he passed the first set of pillars, however, his surroundings changed into a stone room. Harry quickly brought his guard back up, looking around for enemies. However, what surprised him wasn't an enemy, but a voice in his head, as if someone was trying to talk to him telepathically.

"You have arrived in the Great Tomb Of Nazarick. Choose a path forward," a deep voice intoned. It wasn't breaking through Harry's Occlumency barriers, so he wasn't too worried. As soon as the voice finished speaking, five wooden doors appeared in front of Harry. He inspected each of the doors before choosing the one on the far left, conveniently labeled with a '1.' Once he stepped through the doorway, Harry once again disappeared in a flash on light.

—

At the same time as Harry stepped through the first gate, the 38-strong group of Ainz Ooal Gown arrived at the edge of the dungeon. A message appeared on their HUD's, sending the group into confusion.

"Momo-sama, it seems someone beat us here. What should we do?" A pink slime asked the Overlord. The skeleton hummed before swiping away the system notification.

"As the party leader, I got a unique message. It seems only one person entered the dungeon. They must have thought it was just a building, and not a full scenario," Momonga told the group. "We should just wait here for them to be wiped. After all, several 20-strong groups have already wiped here, and even a 30-strong group failed last week. A single person should be kicked out of the area soon."

The party members nodded and murmured their agreements, before sitting down or conjuring chairs. They all navigated their menus or chatted with their friends while they waited for the player in the tomb to be killed.

"It's sad we can't help, Momo-kun," the shiny paladin said as he approached Momonga. He was Touch Me, the paladin who had saved Momonga and invited him to Nine's Own Goal so long ago. The Overlord sighed and turned to face his friend.

"Indeed, they must have been exploring when they wandered in. It's too bad they'll lose their hard earned equipment and levels. Perhaps they will come back and we can help them grab their items," Momonga said. He was actually hoping for this to happen, as it would be nice to meet a person who was able to traverse such a dangerous zone on their own. "Ah, it's too bad we didn't catch them before they headed in, Touch-kun."

—

Completely oblivious to the group outside, Harry was walking through a large forest that he had been teleported to. He had discovered that apparation was possible, but he didn't have many places to go to since he'd only just arrived in this world. As such, Harry kept following the path, defending himself against the monsters which kept popping up. Strangely, the monsters' bodies didn't stay when they were killed. Instead, the creatures turned into light, dropping coins made of bronze, silver, and gold, as well as materials, armor, and weapons. When Harry had used an analysis spell on the items, he blinked rapidly in shock at the description.

{[Gloves of Vindication] (High Class):

+35 Defense

+6 Agility

Hand covers crafted from Mithril mail. These gloves boast a significant defense, while the lightness of the Mithril enables one to move as if wearing nothing. An item from the video game "Yggdrasil"}

He had been reincarnated into a video game! Harry knew that something special must happen to the game to make it a place he could be reborn into. Perhaps someone had used a forbidden magic? No matter the how and why, Harry was both shocked and happy. Being in a video game meant that world-saving wasn't an issue! He could take his time to enjoy this 'life' and relax.

Harry found that the Asgardian leather armor he'd brought with him had a total defense of 760, much better than even the full Mithril Vindication set that had dropped from mobs. He didn't bother analyzing his scythe, as he figured the different forms had different stats. Harry did check the stats for his gun which was formed from the staff, since it was his main weapon at this time.

{[Death Shot] (Divine Class):

230 Attack

12 Speed

2760 DPS

7 Agility

13 Perception

3 Luck

A gun crafted from the bones of a Black Diablos, forged in the smithy of Astera. It uses ammunition crafted from a variety of monster sacs to inflict various status effects. Using magic, this weapon was strengthened and turned into a transformation of the above World Class item [Master's War Scythe]}

The wizard continued to slaughter his way through the forest, picking up the drops along the way. Eventually, Harry reached the end of the path. On the ground was a teleportation circle of Norse runes. Harry made sure he had potions ready, and stepped into the circle before once again disappearing into bright light.

He reappeared inside of a large stone dome. The area was well-lit, though there was no obvious source. Healthy grass covered the ground, and trees lined the edge of the dome's interior. On a hill in the center of the area was a green dragon, easily twenty feet long. When Harry appeared at the edge of the clearing, the dragon blinked sleepily before abruptly standing and snarling at the wizard. Said wizard ensured that his shield spells were working before jumping backwards to dodge a boulder thrown without warning. Acknowledging that the dragon was hostile, Harry checked it's status as he began transforming his [Master's War Scythe].

{Dragon of the Earthen Heart

Health: 285k/285k

Status: Healthy

"The most ancient dragons were known to be able to control the essence of Yggdrasil, the five Elements themselves" - Starseeker Maren, Beasts of the World Tree Volume 4}

The amount of health that the dragon had was immense, at least compared to the other creatures Harry had encountered so far. Instead of panicking though, the Master of Death utilized a self-flight spell from his original world, if only picking it out of familiarity to ensure a quicker cast. He flew above the head of the dragon and pointed the transformed [Death Shot] downward.

The dragon looked directly up at Harry in order to use a breath attack, which would have been immensely difficult to dodge mid-air. It never got the chance to even charge the attack though, as Harry quickly let off 12 shots - six in each eye. With the dragon at least temporarily blinded, he transformed the scythe into a claymore-type sword and started slicing at the dragon's wings. The beast hadn't shown any flight capabilities yet, but Harry wasn't taking any chances to lose his height advantage. By the time the dragon's eyes regenerated, its right wing had been sliced in half and its left wing was brutally crushed. This was the effect of Harry's claymore, [Single Edge]. Harry jumped around, shooting out the dragon's eyes again with precise shots, before smashing it's newly-repaired wings. The wizard continued this cycle until the creature reached half-health, at which point the dragon gave an ear-shattering roar.

With the roar came the beginning of what was essentially Armageddon. The dragon had entered a Rage state, giving it massively buffed defense and attack while it rained down earth-element spells without pause. After a few minutes of Harry dodging attacks and re-applying his shields, the dragon collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. The wizard didn't pass up the opportunity, beating the beast one strike after another.

—

Outside the tomb, Momonga heard a jingle as he received another system notification. 'Finally,' he thought, 'that player died.' However, as he checked the notification, his eye-holes widened comically in shock. "Touch-kun! Come look at this!" The Overlord said as he shared the message with his friend.

"What is it Momo-kun? Did the player die yet?" Touch Me asked as he walked over. The paladin gasped as he read the notification. "He beat the first boss!? What a strong person! If he has enough potions, maybe he can get through to the second one. Although, with the typical inventory space, he probably will only get that far if he's lucky." Touch Me was optimistic about the mysterious player's chances. However, he was still realistic and knew that even with top-tier health potions and super good equipment, the player could only last so long.

Momonga was also excited and happy, but for a different reason. If he could recruit this player, the strength of Ainz Ooal Gown would be undeniable! As long as the player was a hetermorph, they could join the guild, boosting its power tremendously. Such a character would be an incredible front liner in any battle, able to mow through parties single handedly with power stronger than the toughest bosses. Needless to say, Momonga had high expectations.

"Alright Touch-kun, let's keep this quiet for now. I don't want everyone to be overconfident. It's evident this player is special, even beyond the top-tier players like ours," The undead whispered, knowing that caution in the dungeon was still important, and none of their party members could reach the level of this mystery player right now. Momonga eagerly imagined the scenario in the dungeon as he waited for another system notification.

—

Back in the first stone room, Harry appeared in a flash of light. He was holding a bright green orb, and was covered in a similar shade of blood. 'Dragons,' he thought with a sigh, 'why is it always dragons?'

After attacking the beast for another several minutes after the Rage state ended, Harry figured out that the beast was actually incredibly weak towards spiritual spells. It seems that in order to become overwhelmingly strong by integrating the element of earth into its body, it's ability to draw on soul and mental energy was weakened.

The wizard inspected his loot, learning that the orb was actually an [Earth Heart], and the scales were [Tectonic Plates]. The scales appeared to be an incredibly powerful armor material, with an especially strong resistance to fire. The orb only had a simple description, reading 'One of Five.' After Harry finished inspecting the items, the voice to him spoke again.

"Congratulations on defeating the Dragon of the Earthen Heart. The first seal has been broken, and the other four guardians have gained strength."

Harry groaned at the last part, hoping that the increase in power wasn't astronomical. The first dragon had been more an annoyance than a problem, but depending on the power increase, the others could be dangerous. After repairing his equipment and readying a few more potions, the wizard stepped through the second door.

**—**—**—**—**

Username: Potter3

Job(s): Master of Death

Title(s): Master of Death

Health: 27000/(?)

Mana: 28000/(?)[1]

{[Asgardian Leather Armor] (Legacy Class)

760 Defense

17 Agility

15 Strength

\+ 2000 Health

\+ 1000 Mana

A simple set of leather armor, crafted from a beast native to Asgard. Not particularly special, but has been strengthened with a variety of runic enchantments}

{[Master's War Scythe] (? Class, Growth-Type)

830 Attack

1.73 Speed

1436 DPS

34 Agility

39 Strength

30 Luck

\+ 5000 Health

\+ 5000 Mana

Bead Count: 73

Soulbound Item

A large war scythe. The handle is made of polished Elder wood, and the blade is made of an unknown dark material. It is said to have been created by Death itself. It emits a strong aura of decay, causing any outside magic that hits it to be quickly destroyed. A string of beads is attached to the body of the scythe. When a bead in placed in a hole in the scythe, the scythe will transform into an item which had its data stored in the bead. The scythe increases in power as the number of beads present increases, adding 10 attack, 0.01 speed, and 1 attribute point. This weapon brings luck to its owner. }

{[Single Edge] (Legendary Class)

530 Attack

0.89 Speed

472 DPS

34 Strength

50% chance to deal blunt-type damage instead of slash-type.

A claymore-type sword. There is a distinct vertical line in the sword, with one half glowing warmly as if it just came out of the forge, and the other half is cool steel. The cool half has been sharpened tremendously, while the unfinished edge is blunt. When attacking, the unfinished pommel will cause the sword to twist, creating a certain probability of hitting with the blunt edge instead of the sharp edge. Using magic, this weapon was strengthened and turned into a transformation of the above World Class item [Master's War Scythe]}

[1] - 'I fell off a 300 foot tall cliff today. My health gauge emptied out, but instead of dying I was teleported to the nearest player respawn point. I know that the fall wouldn't have killed me in a real world, so I guess the system gave me an arbitrary health value to seem like a player. I wonder what it would take to actually kill me and send me back to limbo here…' - The Master of Death, W77 - Yggdrasil


	3. Chapter 2: Tomb Of Nazarick

Deep in the poison swamps of Helheim, a group of 38 players was sitting outside a large stone temple - The Tomb of Nazarick. The party surrounded a single member, an undead of the Overlord class.

"Momo-sama, is this really possible? Or is it the shitty devs playing tricks again?" A pink slime spoke up. This was Bukubukuchagama, a member of the non-human guild Ainz Ooal Gown.

"I don't know, Buku-chan. I just keep getting the system notifications that a player is clearing the bosses of this dungeon." The undead, Momonga, replied to his friend and fellow guild member. Over the past few hours, the guild leader had received several notifications that a mysterious player was defeating the floor bosses of the Great Temple of Nazarick by themselves. This was the same level 80 dungeon that several 20-player squads and even a 30-player squad had wiped on before even seeing the final boss! And yet, the solo player had already defeated 3, and if they kept their pace, Momonga was expecting a fourth notification soon. "This player is truly powerful! The shitty devs said there were 200 world items scattered throughout Yggdrasil, and thousands of semi-world item equipment pieces. Perhaps this player has a full setup of these items!" This seemed to be the only possible explanation.

Touch Me, a literal shining paladin, looked towards the stone temple. 'Finally,' he thought, 'a true champion!'

—

The mysterious player that Ainz Ooal Gown was talking about was oblivious to their conversations. On the fourth floor of the Tomb of Nazarick, a dark-haired man was blasting away creatures flying overhead.

"I understand that I've already completed the earth, water, and fire element stages, but why did the air have to be so tricky!" he exclaimed. The man was Harry Potter, a wizard and the Master of Death. Harry had stumbled on the tomb earlier that day in search of shelter from a storm, and ended up fighting tons of monsters after a power transported him deep inside the structure. So far he'd cleared three floor bosses, receiving an element heart from each, as well as extraordinary materials. Now, he was preparing to fight the air elemental boss.

As Harry stepped into the teleportation matrix, he heard a voice in his head, which he'd long since called 'The System' because the item descriptions showed that he was in a videogame dimension. The notification he got this time was simply a reminder on his progress.

"You have defeated three of floor bosses. The fourth floor boss will be 60% stronger than the first, after releasing three seals. Good luck!"

Harry sighed at the reminder of the increased power strength. Dragons were annoyances on their own, and the power increases was beginning to have a toll on the wizard. However, he persevered and prepared to fight the fourth boss, the Dragon of the Air Heart.

Several minutes of explosions, gunshots, and roaring later, Harry appeared again in the first stone room in a flash of light. He was covered in yellow blood, holding a matching colored orb and a pile of string. Inspecting the items, Harry learned that he had received the [Air Heart] and the [Wind Tendons]. The tendons were a material that boasted extreme durability and resistance to water damage. Harry added the orb to the others in a gate nearby, and reviewed the boss materials he'd gotten.

"It seems each material part I've gotten so far relates to an armor material. The [Tectonic Plates] would be the main base, with the [Wind Tendons] being used to combine the plates. The [Tears of Life] and the [Promethean Magma] will be used to power whatever forge the armor is crafted in. However, I still need one last material, something to connect the tendons to the plates. Hopefully, this last boss will drop something good!" Harry said giddily. He was excited to see what the four elements could do in combination, and what was through the fifth door if the regular four elements were already represented. Eager to find out, the wizard ran through the fifth and last door.

—

Outside the tomb, people were screaming in excitement. The 38-strong group had finally received the notification of the mysterious player clearing the fourth boss.

"Wow! To think he could get so far!" Bukubukuchagama exclaimed. Touch Me and Momonga nodded to her statement, agreeing wholeheartedly.

"I'd say he has a 50% chance of fighting the final boss! Clearing this fifth floor will be incredibly difficult, given that the bosses have been increasing in strength. I imagine he's out of supplies by now," Touch Me said excitedly. He was ecstatic to see such a powerful figure in the game. Momonga hummed before he responded to his paladin friend.

"I'd like to say the same. It's truly astounding that he got this far, but the final boss will be twice as powerful as the first, and only at a base level. Defeating such a creature would surely be difficult for a fresh 20 man squad, not to mention a tired solo player. Where the floor bosses were designed for party fights, the final boss was designed for multiple parties working in tandem," the Overlord said. He considered himself a realist, but the display from this solo player had destroyed his previous conceptions of Yggdrasil's limits. The group eagerly conversed, and several of the members even posted screenshots of the system notifications on the Yggdrasil forums.

Most of the responses were disbelieving and accused Ainz Ooal Gown of editing the images, but a few players followed along, just as excited as the guild.

—

Arriving on the fifth floor, Harry quickly assessed his surroundings. He had arrived on large plain of pitch black grass, with the sky above just an empty void. As Harry started walking, several shapes popped up out of the ground. Approaching the outline, Harry was surprised to see a skeleton, but when he thought about it he wasn't truly shocked.

"Ah, the four elements of life, and the fifth element is death itself. It's quite an ingenious setup! The final boss must be truly powerful to have such a wide array of minions."

The wizard quickly began working his way through the plain, using light healing spells and shooting the skulls and joints of the skeletons with his [Death Shot] set to incendiary ammunition. Even if the monsters survived, they were unable to move or attack and he could quickly finish them by transforming his rifle into the [Single Edge].

Several times, Harry ran into powerful liches. These undead were tenacious creatures that were originally strong dark magicians. Their powerful necromantic energy kept them animated even in death. Harry enjoyed having a duel with a fellow magic user, even if he was disgusted by the undead as the Master of Death. Those who tried to cheat the end truly disgusted him. That being said, he didn't have anything against necromancers in general. Oftentimes, the magic that 'necromancers' used was just regular summoning magic that happened to summon skeletal beings, instead of using disgusting rituals to achieve a perverted abomination of immortality.

After checking all his equipment and resting for a few minutes, Harry once again ran into a teleportation matrix. Stepping into it, he was ready to fight the strongest floor boss yet.

—

The group outside was eagerly waiting for another system notification. They'd been chatting on the forums and with each other for a while, and had hyped themselves up. As soon as Momonga received the telltale jingle, he was surrounded by guild members.

"Alright everyone, give me some space to read this!" The overlord yelled. He quickly got the desired space, and smiled as he read the message out loud. "The fifth floor boss has been defeated by an unnamed party! Player count: one."

Everyone was ecstatic, with many members immediately sharing clips and screenshots on the forums. Those who didn't talked loudly with their friends, speculating on who the player could be. A single paladin in shining armor smiled widely as he danced around, filled with expectant energy.

"To be able to defeat five floor bosses on one's own! Even a 30-player group of top contenders couldn't do it! Ah, it's too bad this journey will end soon," Touch Me sighed. After everyone settled down a bit, Momonga gathered them to prepare to enter the dungeon. Even if the mysterious player could defeat five floor bosses, they must be out of potions with their equipments broken. They Ainz Ooal Gown guild was going to sweep into the tomb with their excitement as soon as the player met his end at the hands of the final Raid Boss.

—

Harry once again appeared in the main room of the Tomb in a flash of light. He wasn't covered in blood this time, surprisingly. Harry quickly stored the [Bone Fusers] he'd received with the other materials and used some potions.

"A bone dragon! What a fearsome beast. My gun did almost nothing! Luckily, I had the [Single Edge] ready and a lot of explosive spells," Harry murmured tiredly. The bone dragon had been a full 80% stronger than the earth dragon he'd fought first, and its skeletal body was incredibly difficult to hit with a precision weapon like his [Death Shot]. He'd finally defeated the boss with explosive spells and the 50% blunt damage from his sword, and received magical joint bones that fused materials together. Now all he needed was a forge to create his new armor set.

After he finished resting, Harry picked up the black orb and walked over to the gate. When he placed the [Decaying Heart] in the final slot, another system notification arrived.

"The five guardians have been defeated. With their hearts combined, the final seal breaks. The final boss of the Great Tomb of Nazarick awakens, with power 100% greater than the first guardian. Step through the gate, and fight Nazarick, the Star Devourer!"

Harry stepped through the gate, gun at the ready and spell on his lips. He was eager to fight a monster stronger than even the bone dragon. Nazarick would be his first real threat in this new world!

As the teleportation light faded Harry looked for the Raid Boss. In front of him was a vast sea of stars, twinkling brightly. The wizard was standing on a translucent platform in the middle of this void. As he watched, several of the stars disappeared. A snake-like shadow got closer to him, stars vanishing wherever it passed. This was Nazarick, the Star Devourer!

Harry immediately used a powerful spell he learned from one of the versions of Asgard he'd visited. "Bjóða Jörmungandr!" He yelled. A green mist appeared around him, and his body transformed. When the spell was completed, Harry's human body had been replaced with the ancient Norse Midgard serpent. His body was nearly twice the size of Nazarick's, and he quickly used that size to his advantage and wrapped around the Star Devourer. As Harry squeezed and bit, the boss rained elemental power on him. Eventually, the strain became too much and Harry reverted back into his original form, casting an analysis spell as he fell off the worm.

Nazarick, the Star Devourer

Health: 510k/670k

Status: Angered, Unsealed, Light Injuries

"The All-Father combined all of Asgard's forces and couldn't kill that snake. He came to me for help, and even then we couldn't kill the beast, only seal it. That creature could fight evenly with any of those World Tree eating monsters, but he's after something greater than our nine realms. He desires the rest of the universe." - Hel Lokidottir, A Letter to Death

Both Harry and Nazarick were looking somewhat beat up after such a powerful first exchange. Harry was tempted to use fiendfyre, but knew that it was useless against an elemental master. As his thoughts raced, Harry continued to fly around, dodging Nazarick's attacks agilely while taking shots at any openings. After a short time, Harry had an idea.

"Alright worm, let's see how you respond to this!" Harry cried. He pulled out a small object and threw it in the air, following it with a Finite Incantatem. As soon as the words left his lips, the object transformed into a large mech. This suit was a pinnacle mix of magic and technology, created with the ideas from several legendary mech suits from several dimensions. It was Harry's first time using it, and while it would like be much too strong for a relatively small creature like Nazarick, the wizard had been looking for a stage worthy to test it for 3 reincarnations, and he wasn't going to miss this chance.

{[Wrath Mk. I] (Unique Item - No Class Rating):

Armor: 80k/80k

Attack dependent on device used

34 Agility

120 Strength

80 Endurance

Hephaestus' greatest creation was a joint operation with Durin the dwarf king. The two grandmasters of crafts worked for 30 years to create a weapon greater than any other. They named this weapon [Pride], for that was the emotion they felt when they saw it finished. The two gods took their creation to an endless forest, filled with dangerous beasts to test its prowess. However, when they arrived, they saw a lone figure there with a metal giant at his side. They saw the figure climb into the giants mouth, and when that giant attacked, it surpassed [Pride] by several measurements. The gods approached the man when he left the giant, and asked what he felt when he created the beast. The man replied, "When one looks upon someting he made, he should experience love for his creation, and imagine how it can help them. When I looked upon this beast, I only felt wrath. Wrath at myself for having the audacity to create something that can only be used to destroy, to hurt. A sword is used to defend as much as assault, but if one uses this weapon, they cannot rightfully say that they did it for any reason other than to see their enemies die before having the chance to tremble in fear." - Harry Potter, Stories from W34

Crafted from a variety of mythical materials, this mech suit sports a wide variety of magical, kinetic, and energy weapons. Because it is a prototype with a variety of functions, Yggdrasil's system registers the mecha as more than one item. This causes it to read as a unique item with no class rating}

As soon as Harry was wrapped in the suit, he began firing barrages of energy weapons and magical spells stored in crystals. As the fight went on, Nazarick managed to destroy a single arm and the connector for the legs and torso, but in return was slammed into the ground, exhausted. Harry hopped out of the now immobile mech and returned it to its previous form, storing it safely in his dragonhide satchel. He approached Nazarick, and searched its helpless body. He stored the items he took in his bag before finally using [Death Shot] to finish the huge monster.

As soon as Nazarick faded away and Harry grabbed the last drops, the wizard was teleported to a throne room. A piece of paper and a glowing chest floated down in front of him, and Harry heard the system notification once more.

"The Great Tomb of Nazarick has been cleared. For being the first to clear this dungeon, you have been awarded with the ability to turn it into a Guild Base. For defeating the dungeon on the first run, you have been given the World Item [Throne of Kings]. For defeating the dungeon with a group of less than 12 people, you have been awarded the Legendary Class item [Draught of Sturdiness]. For defeating the dungeon with less than 6 people, you have been awarded the Divine Class item [Spear of Purity]. For defeating the dungeon alone, you have been awarded the World Item [Grimoire of the Stars]. For defeating the dungeon alone, you have started the Hidden Class Quest: Master of Helheim. To continue this quest, give up the deed for the Tomb of Nazarick Guild Base to a guild leader who has never had a base."

Harry was stunned. The items he'd received were tremendously powerful. He quickly analyzed the items from both defeating Nazarick and clearing the dungeon.

{[Hide of Nazarick] (Legendary Class):

75 Defense

5 Strength

1300 Mana

Leather from the back of Nazarick, the Star Devourer. When made into armor in tandem with materials of the five elements of life and death, an incredible buff is unlocked}

{[Tooth of Nazarick] (Legendary Class):

200 Attack

5 Strength

1000 Rage

A tooth from the maw of Nazarick, the Star Devourer. When made into a weapon in tandem with materials of the five elements of life and death, an incredible buff is unlocked}

{[Collar of Nazarick] (Unique Item - No Class):

A mysterious collar. It's properties are unknown, causing a failure in reading the class rating. A powerful figure may be able to provide answers}

{[Draught of Sturdiness] (Legendary Class)

Permanently increase natural defense by 20%}

{[Spear of Purity] (Divine Class):

50 Attack

750% Divine Power

2100 Mana

A spear with weak attack power. It is filled with godly intent, greatly raising one's holy abilities}

{[Throne of Kings] (World Item - Yggdrasil Ranking 108):

The (literal) seat of power

This throne appears to be made for a large creature. The back of the throne is disproportionately large, emitting an oppressive feeling. This item can be placed inside of a guild base, and the leader of the guild who owns said base gains the buff [Omniscence] when seated on the throne. This buff gives a boost of 20% to all defending NPC's and players, as well as providing complete control over all NPC's and devices in the guild base}

{[Grimoire of the Stars] (World Item - Yggdrasil Ranking 43):

Knowledge gathered from across the universe

A world-class item. When used, player will instantly learn 5 unique super-tier spells. The buff [Knowledge of Nazarick] is added while the Grimoire is owned, increasing all spell power by 30%, and adding the ability to learn an infinite amount of spells, similar to [Dark Wisdom]}

Needless to say, Harry was incredibly happy with the drops. The hidden quest in particular greatly intrigued him. If he obtained a class from a video game world, would it permanently augment his abilities? A secret class was as good a test as any for such a thing. Spell slots were useless to Harry, but he knew that ability buffs worked in places outside the game because he had used the items in his dragon hide satchel's hidden dimension. The super tier spells were incredibly powerful, matching the potential of the Midgard Serpent Transformation spell that Harry had used earlier. However, he would have to find a way to shorten the cast time - regular training and prepared crystals should solve the issue.

Remembering what he was supposed to be doing, Harry searched the tomb for any last loot before apparating outside.

—

The moment Harry had defeated Nazarick, the Star Devourer, Momonga of Ainz Ooal Gown received a system notification. The undead quickly scanned the message as he relayed the occurrence to the rest of his friends.

"Okay, he lasted longer than I thought but he should be dead now, time to go i-" Momonga stopped short in the middle of his speech to the guild, his eyes racing back and forth as he read the notification.

"Momo-kun, are you okay?" Touch Me asked, approaching his skeletal friend. Momonga silently shared the notification with Touch Me, who quickly scanned the message before reading back over it more slowly. "WHAT!? The player cleared the dungeon!"

As soon as the words left Touch Me's mouth, the other 36 members went wild. They took screenshots and video clips of the system notification and displayed it on the Yggdrasil forums. The player base was once again divided between accusing Ainz Ooal Gown of being attention seekers, and yelling for the shitty devs to provide clarification. The devs were quick to respond and made an announcement, one which caused another explosion in the forums.

"Everyone, we would like to talk about the recent events surrounding a certain Helheim dungeon, the notorious Tomb of Nazarick. As many of you have learned, at 8:40 this evening, a player cleared the dungeon in a single solo run. We have reviewed the event logs and footage related, and determined that no form of hacking or cheating occurred during this run. In fact, we were quite amazed by a spell the player used during the final boss fight. As you all know, Yggdrasil has a spell creation system. It is incredibly difficult to level oneself in spell creation, resulting in most of the players only creating tier one and tier two spells. However, this player went above and beyond and created a super tier spell on their own! The footage of this spell is being released so that the players may be inspired to level their own spell creating classes."

After this brief announcement, the beginning footage of the final battle was released. It showed the oppressiveness of Nazarick itself, and then a small black-haired figure transforming into the facsimile of the Midgard Serpent. The news actually made it onto a minor TV station, causing a surge in players joining Yggdrasil.

Meanwhile, back outside the area in question, the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown was conversing. At this time, Touch Me noticed a figure exiting the dungeon.

"Momo-kun, look! The mysterious player is coming this way!" Touch me quickly got Momonga's attention. As Harry approached, Momonga stepped out to meet him.

"Hello, fellow player. I am Momonga of the new guild Ainz Ooal Gown. I'd like to congratulate you on beating such a powerful dungeon on your own! Such skill is truly unheard of and astounding," Momonga gushed, excited to meet such a powerful figure. He noticed the name above the players head, [Potter3].

Harry rubbed the back of his head bashfully as he responded to Momonga. "Ah, it was a really difficult battle. I'm just glad I didn't die! Hey, random question, do you have a guild base yet?"

"Uh, no we don't, Potter-san. We were actually going to run this dungeon and try to claim it, but it seems you beat us to the punch," Momonga mumbled as he scratched the back of his bony head. He was curious as to why the player asked. Just what reason could he have for that?

"Excellent! I can't use this base deed, so you can have it," Harry pulled out the paper and offered it to Momonga. He figured that since it was a video game he would have a name tag, but he was surprised to hear that it was Potter instead of Harry. "And please, call me Harry. I messed up my tag when I made the character."

Momonga was stunned at Harry's actions. He was just offering the base deed? Was there a catch? Momonga quickly turned on screen recording in case the player wanted to accuse him of stealing the deed. "Are you sure Hari-san? Base deeds are rare and difficult to get! At least let us buy it instead of just giving it to us."

"Ah, right. I'll sell it to you for legendary-class materials. If you can give me one for each of the four elements and one of the death attribute, this deed is yours," Harry responded. He remembered that he was a stranger to them, and a gifting level of trust wasn't there yet. He needed the materials anyway to make a weapon from the [Tooth of Nazarick], as he already had items to develop the [Hide of Nazarick]. The undead and the wizard traded the items, and added each other as friends. Harry left to follow his hidden quest, since gifting the deed completed the first objective.

The 38 members of Ainz Ooal Gown exchanged glances, before rushing towards the tomb in unision, shouting out dibs for various ideas.

—

Some time later, Harry was sitting on top of a cliff looking into a castle made of dark stone. The Master of Death pulled out the [Draught of Sturdiness] that he'd received from the Tomb of Nazarick. Drinking the potion, he felt it as his skin hardened, as if he had gotten a whole-body callus. Harry flexed twice before dropping his arms, looking around embarrassedly. After marveling at his change, the wizard reviewed the next steps he had planned. He had reached the next objective in his hidden class mission, Hel's Castle, to meet with this pseudo-universe's goddess of death. The wizard jumped down to the front gates and presented a token he'd received from the quest. The lizardman guards verified the token before allowing Harry into the stronghold. His newly created armor and jian-type sword were suitably impressive to the guards, further verifying that the token wasn't stolen or counterfeited. The equipment he was displaying were the items Harry had made from the elemental materials and the parts he'd gotten from the raid boss Nazarick. Walking through the gates, Harry steeled himself for a new adventure.

Username: Potter3

Job(s): Master of Death

Title(s): Master of Death, Slayer of Nazarick

Health: 27000/(?)

Mana: 28000/(?)[1]

{[Armor of Nazarick] (Divine Class):

850 Defense

10% Spell Power

2500 Mana

A set of leather armor created by combining the [Hide of Nazarick] with materials of the five elements of life and death. When worn, this armor provides the buff [Endurance of Nazarick], providing an additional 10% general defense and 50% resistance to all status types}

{[Blade of Nazarick] (Divine Class):

600 Attack

10% Spell Power

1500 Mana

A jian-type blade created by combining the [Tooth of Nazarick] with materials of the five elements of life and death. When held, this jian provides the buff [Strength of Nazarick], providing an additional 10% general attack and 50% damage with all status types}

—

[1] The system registers Harry's health and mana as immeasurable, since Death doesn't stick and his magical power is plain off the charts. The first numbers are arbitrary and signal the point where Harry would normally begin to weaken from exhaustion


	4. Chapter 3: Hela’s Castle

Harry approached walked into the throne room, the very image of confidence and power. His current objective for the **Hidden Class Quest: Master of Helheim** was to speak with Hela herself and help her. Having met several versions of the goddess in previous lives, Harry was prepared to acquiesce to her requests.

"Halt!" A voice boomed. A large armored figure stepped towards Harry. "Declare your intentions, stranger. None with impure goals shall enter."

The wizard was quite amused at this. He'd defeated Nazarick, the Star Devourer and there weren't likely to be many in this castle who were stronger than the boss. Hela herself was undoubtedly powerful enough, but this grunt guard was at most the level of the earth dragon. Harry wasn't about to start a fight with a friendly though, and quickly responded to the armored guard.

"I am here to help her majesty with the issue she's been having," Harry said. Despite receiving such a vague answer, the guard pulled back quickly.

"Yes sir, I shall inform the throne of your presence immediately," the guard said before turning around to do just that. Harry looked around the hall he was in, admiring the decor. Twinkling chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the light reflecting off metallic banners and shining suits of armor. Several doors were set into the walls between sets of armor, accented with gold leaf in fanciful designs. Guards were posted outside several particularly garish doors, a symbol of the occupant's status. After several minutes, the guard returned.

"Sir, her majesty will see you now. Please follow me," the guard told the wizard, beckoning him to follow. As Harry walked down the hall, he noticed the decorations becoming darker. The gold leaf turned to a dark black-gold, the banners were replaced by tapestries depicting epic battles, and the armor suits became more functional than stylish in design. The theme had shifted from its showy face, revealing deadly ability behind the mask.

The duo soon reached a massive door, covered in a mural depicting a map of Helheim. Several points were marked with ornate gems, and Harry recognized the Tomb of Nazarick as one of these points. The tomb was marked by a cut ruby, shattered down the middle. Underneath the broken gem was the word 'cleared,' also seen at several other points where the gems had been similarly broken. The wizard took note of the locations of the intact gems, and the location of Hela's Castle marked by a large diamond several times the size of the other rocks. The guard opened the gate with little fanfare, motioning Harry to stay.

"Announcing Harry Potter," the guard called before motioning the man in question to enter. As Harry entered, he noticed the rows of guards next to the walkway, and three figures at the end on a dais. A woman was seated on a high-backed throne of black stone, flanked by a man and woman who gave off an aura of power. Harry stepped up to the bottom of the raised platform, bowing to Hela and her aides.

"Insolent worm! Kneel before royalty!" The man on the dais stepped forward, enraged. He drew his sword, ready to attack. "My queen, give the word and I shall take the head of this fool."

However, Hela motioned for him to stand down. She stood from her thrown and bowed back to Harry, shocking everyone in the throne room. "The Master of Death, it is truly a pleasure to meet one as esteemed as yourself," Hela said with a smile.

Harry simply smirked in return, straightening from his bow. "Goddess, I thank you for your words. However, I am not here in such a position today. I come as an adventurer in this life, and hope to help you with your problems."

The queen nodded, returning to her throne. She motioned for the woman at her side to come forward, presenting a leather case. "Recently, a cult of necromancers has been causing trouble for me. Many souls are being forcefully dragged into undead bodies. As you know, darker souls usually choose to become undead when a necromancer requests it. However, these fools are forcing many souls to come back unwillingly, causing disruption with my reapers. The group is called Zurrernorn, and they are centered in midgard. Stop their activities, and you shall be rewarded."

Harry was enraged. As the Master of Death, he knew a lot about necromancy. Souls that didn't go on an reincarnate were moved to the underworld, where they could enjoy themselves with friends from their recent life. Darker souls, those who were criminals in life, often hung around the Necrotic Gate, a doorway where necromancers would request souls to become undead. However, the Zurrernorn necromancers were reaching through the Gate to grab any souls they could. This was a cardinal sin in the Master of Death's eyes, and he was determined to destroy them.

"Your Majesty, I will not rest until these fools are destroyed and the undead laid to rest. Please await me return," Harry spat, ready to burn through the hordes. He left a short time later with Hela's good will.

——————————

On his way to midgard, Harry had stopped at several of the areas marked by the smallest gems on Hela's door map. These were low level dungeons for him, only level 50, and were small enough that the wizard could get through them in as little as a few hours. Harry harvested many monster parts and strange plants, which he put aside to experiment with in potions. After a few days of exploration, Harry reached the teleportation gate.

When Harry spotted the gate, he immediately stopped. Setting up several protection wards, notice-me-not spells, and disillusionment charms, Harry set down his dragonhide satchel and entered the manor bag dimension. Here, he harvested his new garden and went about sorting the loot he'd received in this new life.

"Video games are a great way to get a lot of items. I usually can't find such a large amount of artifacts in a single life, and it's only been a month!" Harry was still excited about his new reincarnation. He sent a mental thank you to Death for choosing such an adventure for him. Deciding to wait a week or so before going through the teleportation gate to midgard, Harry set up the monster parts he could use for brewing in his potion lab, and planted cuttings of each of the plants he had found. The analyze spell made figuring out the conditions each type of flora needed a cinch. Finishing his planting, Harry went to experiment with his potions.

A few days, and several explosions later, Harry emerged from his lab. Potions that restored magical energy were few and far between in any dimension, and the wizard had struck it rich with a variety of recipes for mana restoration potions that had dropped from mobs. While the potions were still limited, they were an astronomical upgrade from what he'd had before. The only issue was that the potions restored a set amount of mana, usually a few thousand. When Harry had sent a query to the system about his mana, he'd discovered that he had an incredible reserve. While the wizard always new his magical endurance was stronger than any of his peers, having it quantified really put his situation in perspective. The potions that restored several thousand mana, while incredible for the players, was almost useless to Harry. He'd have to drink a dozen before they had an significant effect.

Giving up on the situation for the moment, Harry went to the library and sat down to read the **[Grimoire of the Stars]** he'd received from soloing the Tomb of Nazarick. After querying the system, he'd learned about World Items. The power a World Item had was incredible. Harry had actually compared them to be equivalent in potential to his Philosopher's Crystal, or any one of his scythe beads. Even the prototype mech he had used against Nazarick was inferior to The Twenty, the top 10% of World Items. The **[Grimoire of the Stars]** was incredibly powerful as the 27th ranked World Item. The ability to increase spell slots, while useless for Harry, was a godlike boon for regular players. The mana bonus was negligible, and even the spell power increase wasn't too incredible. What excited Harry was the Super-Tier spells.

When the Master of Death explored worlds, many of these dimensions would have magic. Exploring ancient ruins occasionally produced parts of powerful charms and curses, which Harry reverse engineered to recreate the entire spell. Usually, he was lucky to find five such spells in a life, though he had gotten lucky once and found an intact book describing twelve such spells. In this life he had already found a spell book which gave him the knowledge of five such spells! Even further, when Harry had cast one of the spells, he learned that it used an incredibly simple rune system. If he could spend a year or two to analyze these ruins and their connections, the wizard could create his own powerful spells from scratch! The possibilities were endless.

Harry spent the last few days of his week break memorizing the **[Grimoire of the Stars]** and practicing the new spells. When he exited the library, he was eager to try the new spells on enemies. However, he would have to find a truly powerful monster to test them on. Putting this to the side for now, Harry exited his dragonhide bag and walked through the teleportation gate.

————————————

In an incredible golden palace on Asgard, the top executives of an angel guild known as Seraphim gathered. The glowing angels were discussing the solo player who had beaten the Tomb of Nazarick. After many arguments and debates, the executives reached a decision. Because the solo player had given the Tomb to Ainz Ooal Gown, they must be a heteromorphic race. This was enough reason for the guild to hunt down the player and steal the inevitably fantastic loot they received.

In another palace, this one made of pure white marble on Alfheim, a mix of elven and human players dressed in white and gold robes were gathered. These were executives of the three guild alliance, Trinity. The executives were discussing matters similar to that of Seraphim. However, where Seraphim was discussing battle plans, the Trinity leaders were arguing for recruitment. The mysterious player who had cleared the Great Tomb of Nazarick was widely regarded as either extremely lucky, rich, or skilled. Trinity knew that whichever of these three attributes were true, the player would be an incredible addition to their ranks.

In a stone palace on Helheim, the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown was also in discussion. However, they had already met the mystery player and were instead discussing how to set up defenses and design their new guild base. These three top tier guilds were preparing to make moves, and Yggdrasil would shake from their titanic steps.

—————————————

On midgard, far away from any of the three giants, a small figure was making their way through the large town of Grahil (gra-HEEL). This town was known for being the gateway between the civilized low level areas of midgard, and the high level areas known as 'the wild-lands.' Harry had overheard players talking about the town, and figured it was a good place to start his search for the cult of Zurrernorn. Once he had arrived though, his attention was taken by the auction hall. This was a connection to the vast Grand Auction House of Midgard, a hub through which any players on the world could trade and sell their items.

For the wizard, the auction listings appeared in a large tome. He used the table of contents to find the materials section, and immediately started buying everything he could afford. Harry planned to study the properties of each material so he could begin to design his next scythe bead and forge other artifacts. This also had the added benefit of raising his minor skills stats in the game, which gave him engrams of knowledge and techniques for each practice. This was much better than spending a life apprenticing or wasting time with trial and error. After Harry had bought and stored as much as he could afford, he returned to the book and started listing drops he'd gotten from the dungeons which he'd deemed worthless. Many of these equipments sold quickly as players bought the comparably rare pieces. After all was said and done, Harry ended up slightly richer than he'd started.

Leaving the auction house, Harry followed the urge he'd attributed to the system's waypoints and walked down a dark back alley. As he walked along and a figure appeared, beckoning him over. The wizard approached the entity, which he recognized as a reaper of Helheim, and took the offered information packet. Harry quickly stored the packet and left the alley, looking for a more secure place to check the information. An hour later, the Master of Death was in a cozy inn room with a locked and warded door. An intent ward would repel anyone wishing him harm as he perused the dossier.

"Alright, according to this info packet, the cult of Zurrernorn's base in close by. The reapers can't enter because of the wards, but the cult's symbol is scattered everywhere in the area. The average NPC level is 85, and the boss is a level 90 lich player," Harry murmured to himself as he read. The wards only blocked non-human spirits, so as a living being Harry could easily walk through. He was going to have to sneak in and seal the emergency exits before attacking. This way, he could be sure none escaped.

————————————

In a deep cave on midgard, an undead player was preparing a ritual. This player was a lich named SinHun. They had become the leader of Zurrernorn through a series of hidden quests, and were now on the last quest to become an Arch-Lich, an alternative to the Overlord class. While both were evolutions of the Lich class, Overlords focused on summoning while Arch-Lichs displayed destructive magic power. Both were powerful beings on the battlefield.

SinHum finished drawing the circle and was about to start chanting when the entire cave rumbled, and an executive raced in to the ritual room.

"Sir! We've been attacked! Someone has cast a spell that is flooding the caves with some dark liquid. Anyone who touches it freezes and burns before almost immediately dying. None of our artifacts or magic can dispel the effects," the NPC shouted. SinHum frowned angrily, and stormed out of the ritual room. He was going to have to kill this player quickly before returning to complete the ritual.

———————————

Outside the cave, Harry was watching the NPCs run like chickens with their heads cut off. He had sealed all the alternate exits and looted everything he could find before casting one of his newly learned super-tier spells. **[Astral Avarice] **was a piece of magic that created a large area that shared the effects of outer space. The vacuum neared absolute zero in temperature, wreaking havoc on anyone who came in contact with it. The vacuum also absorbed most spells, and each person and magic that it absorbed caused it to grow larger. At this point the void had filled two thirds of the cave system, and was finally slowing down. Unfortunately, the spell also destroyed objects, including any dropped loot under a certain level.

As Harry watched his spell grow and consume more cultists, he felt a faint sense of apprehension. It appeared that someone inside the cave, likely the undead player, had begin using super-tier magic of their own to dispel the void. Harry cocked and eyebrow and ended his spell, immediately placing a prepared spell crystal in his pocket before pulling out his **[Death Shot] **as he waited for the enemy to approach.

The wizard wasn't disappointed as mere minutes later, a lich appeared at the entrance to the cave system, accompanied by 13 red robes cultists. Harry checked his objective progress, and confirmed that the 14 figures were the last that needed to be killed. However, he didn't get a chance to start shooting as the enemy player lifted his staff, firing off a spell in Harry's direction. He didn't react, merely letting the spell dissipate on his magical shield. SinHum was stunned. The spell he'd used, **[Debilitating Destruction]**, was his flagship offensive spell. It was supposed to deconstruct the first thing it touched, and usually in an explosive manner. Even the strongest magicians he had fought had their shield immediately removed, the explosion effect knocking them back. However, the black-haired man simply stood there and took no damage.

Feeling more confident at the lich's astonishment, Harry quickly fired off 26 shots, hitting the staffs or wands of each cultist before firing a round through their skulls. In the span of 15 seconds, only the two players remained.

"Who are you?" Sinhum asked, disbelieving. Harry simply smirked, not bothering to reply as he transformed **[Death Shot]** into the replica of Gryffindor's sword and cut off the lich's head. Pleased with his own performance, the Master of Death quickly looted the bodies and walked into the cave. After a short amount of time, he had reached SinHum's ritual room. When Harry walked into the room, he received a system notification.

'You have satisfied the requirements for a hidden objective in your class quest. New objective: use the ritual matrix to remove the curse on the **[Collar of Nazarick]**.'

Harry was mildly surprised. He had sensed a seal on the item, but hadn't expected to be able to remove it so soon. The wizard had actually been planning out a ritual of his own to identify the seal so he could work on destroying it, but the system had given him a perfect opportunity. Harry quickly set up the ritual according to a the quest objective, and poured energy into the collar. Elsewhere, an undead player respawned. He immediately received a system notification.

'For failing to protect the cultists, and allowing the ritual to be used by an outsider, you have been excommunicated from Zurrernorn. Relations with the group have become soured, and cultists will shun you.' The lich screamed in despair, his hard work going up in flames.

Back in the ritual room, the **[Collar of Nazarick]** floated in the air. A starry portal appeared inside the circle, releasing a small snake-like creature before closing. The collar flashed with blue light and dropped back onto the ground, its seal gone. Harry picked up the collar and slowly approached the monster that had appeared. As he approached, the worm turned and rubbed against his leg, purring. Stunned, Harry quickly shot off an analysis spell. The creature was quickly identified.

{**[Star Devouring Worm]**:

Potter3's Pet

Summoned with the **[Collar of Nazarick]**

A worm that feasts on light and magic. In the wild, this beast can become the size of a small moon. However, this creature is domesticated and will at most reach the size of a large dog}

Harry hummed as he picked up the worm. He could feel it absorbing his magic, though the amount taken was an infinitesimal amount. The wizard actually produced more mana than the worm consumed, so it wasn't an issue. Harry placed the worm around his shoulders and exited the cave, planning on going through the auction one more time before returning to Helheim.


	5. Chapter 4: Breaking The Curse

At the teleportation gate in Helheim, several flashes of light appeared in succession. The light faded to reveal a party of elves and humans in similar black and gold robes. These were high-ranking members of the Trinity Guild's stealth corps. The members grouped up before disappearing towards a distant swamp. This group was assigned to an observation mission, keeping an eye on the Tomb of Nazarick and its current inhabitants, the rising guild Ainz Ooal Gown. The players also had a secondary objective to immediately notify their supervisors if the mysterious solo player was spotted.

Some time later, the gate flashed again. The players who exited were of the angel race, and had fitted themselves with legendary-grade equipment. Seraphim, a top-tier angel guild known for PK'ing heteromorphic races, was preparing to fight mysterious solo player that Trinity was searching for. The group surrounded the portal just outside the safe zone's range, ready to group up and take down the solo player whenever they appeared. The guild wanted to spawn kill the solo player to level 1 and take all the fantastic items the player would have gotten from solo running Helheim's previously unbeatable dungeon.

Unfortunately for both of the guilds, Harry Potter, the mysterious player they were looking for, had long since left Helheim for Midgard. It would be several days before the now legendary figure reappeared.

—

On Midgard, the Master of Death had just finished clearing the Great Auction House again on his return from clearing out Zurrernorn's cultists. The cave system had been entirely emptied of any sign of the cultist's presence, and was being eagerly reclaimed by the strong mobs in the area. Harry was enjoying the profits he had made off the trip, selling the items dropped by the powerful level 80 NPCs. The Midgardian players eagerly bid on the items, and Harry was able to use the profits to purchase more materials.

During the two days the auctions ran for, Harry was sitting in his dragonhide bag's pocket dimension. The wizard had cleared a space on the manor's training grounds for the **[Star Devouring Worm]** to live in. In this space, Harry had built a small shack lined with magic-infused crystal to be used as food for the beast. After the shack was built, the wizard also had the worm show off its abilities. While its attack power was low, the pet had a decent defense and a sizable health pool. Harry wasn't interested in a battle companion, however, and what interested him what the worm's special ability. **[Enchantment Destruction]** was a skill which enabled the worm to destroy any spell, whether it be charm, curse, or enchantment. The ability to remove curses was a boon in itself, to say nothing of the skills other uses. Through his time as the Master of Death, Harry had found many incredibly strong artifacts and pieces of equipment that he would rather not use because they had been cursed. Some of this equipment had potential on par with the World Items from his current life. The ability to study and use such items without having to worry about curses was one of the wizard's greatest desires.

After some time experimenting with the **[Star Devouring Worm]'s **abilities, Harry exited his satchel. Grabbing the profits from his sales, Harry left the auction house and headed towards the nearest teleportation gate. His current objective was to continue his hidden class quest, which meant returning to Hela's Castle to speak with the queen of Helheim. The wizard quickly hopped through the gate, becoming a flash of light.

At the same time as Harry disappeared in Midgard, a flash of light appeared at the main teleportation gate in Helheim. The members of Seraphim tensed as their target emerged from the light, preparing to surround the player and PK them into oblivion. As the spots disappeared from his vision, Harry looked around and chuckled to himself.

'Surrounded by players. There must be 6, no, 7 people here. I shouldn't keep such guests waiting,' Harry thought to himself as he used the analysis spell on the members of Seraphim. 'All angel race, and after I just fought necromancers too. Opposite sides of the same coin, eh? It will be interesting to see their abilities, though.' The wizard leisurely walked towards Hela's Castle, while simultaneously preparing the scythe bead for his **[Death Shot]**. Once he had reached the edge of the safe zone, the 7-strong party surrounded him and pulled out their weapons. Harry didn't give them time to speak, firing a round into the nearest angel's skull for a critical hit and following it up with a cutting curse to finish the player off. The members of Seraphim were significantly stronger than the cultists of Zurrernorn, with twice the health pool and much stronger equipment.

The other angels had begun attacking in this time. The spells melted into Harry's magic shield, and most of the physical attacks were negated by his massive defense thanks to the **[Armor of Nazarick]** and its accompanying buff, **[Endurance of Nazarick]**. A few attacks made it through, but none of them were worrying. Harry continued to shoot and spell his way through the party, and by the time he had gotten his third PK, the first angel respawned. Since Seraphim had attacked first, their penalties were tremendous. A piece of equipment was dropped, similar to all player deaths, but being the aggressors dropped the members by five levels instead of the usual three. Half an hour later, the entire party had died at least twice, and one unlucky angel had been killed five times. The group beat a hasty retreat through the teleportation gate to report to their superiors.

Harry smirked as the players left, sorting through the loot they had dropped. The items were mostly useless to the wizard, but a few pieces might be worth the time to reverse engineer. In particular, Harry was excited about a World Item drop. The particularly strong angel who must have been the leader had worn a white dress with a golden dragon. **[The Downfall of Castle and Country]** was a powerful piece of equipment with the ability to control the mind of any single creature. Harry was able to resist due to possessing the **[Grimoire of the Stars]**, since holding a World Item typically made one immune to other such artifacts. The status of being the Master of Death was supposed to make him immune to all compulsions and mind altering powers, but Harry wasn't in a hurry to test the title's limits. Storing the items, Harry continued on his path towards Hela's Castle. He noticed several other players on his way, but they all kept their distance so the wizard didn't attack.

It took several hours, but he finally reached the massive gates of Helheim's largest stronghold. The armored guards ushered Harry through the same halls as his previous visit, quickly reaching the entrance to the throne room. The Master of Death walked towards this universe's Goddess of Death, bowing at the foot of her raised dais.

"Your Majesty, I have returned from the destruction of Zurrernorn's underground base on Midgard. The lich leader of the cult was attempting to evolve into a stronger being, but I was able to thwart his plans," Harry proudly told Hela. He continued on to inform her of the ritual resulting in the release of the **[Star Devouring Worm]**, who he introduced to Hela's court, and rambled about the worm's ability to break spells and the endless possibilities that entailed. At this point, Hela interrupted Harry.

"Hold, esteemed sir, are you certain that any spell can be broken?" Hela asked, an anxious light in her eyes. When the wizard responded in the affirmative, Hela gave a relieved sigh. "Honorable Master of Death, my grandfather Odin had banished me to this realm as a babe, and his powerful seals bind me here by my very soul. Please, can you break these seals? It has been my one true desire to explore the nine realms and beyond. If it is in my power, I will grant any wish to be free!"

Seeing such a powerful figure beg, Harry was moved. The divinity who represented Death and his domain were like children to the wizard. He had forgotten that Odin sealed Hela in her youth, as he usually arrived at a version of Asgard either well before her existence or after Ragnarok. Harry quickly approached the goddess, wiping her tears. "My lady, it would be an honor to help you. Please, simply set aside a ritual room and we can remove your curse."

As soon as he said these words, an objective update for his hidden quest appeared in Harry's head. Though the quest simply gave him the choice of freeing Hela or informing Odin, the Master of Death was enraged. One moral that had lasted his several millennia of existence was the right to free will, so this objective was clearly split into right and horribly wrong. Harry ignored the system and followed Hela into a stone room off the main throne room, starting the ritual with the **[Star Devouring Worm] **to break Hela's seals.

Several hours later, a shout echoed across the castle grounds, signaling the final seal breaking on Hela's soul. At the same time, players across the entirety of Yggdrasil received a system notification.

{ Hela Lokidottir, Goddess of Death, Ruler of Helheim, has been freed of her seals. Odin Borson, All-father and Ruler of Asgard had signed a warrant for her immediate execution. The one to defeat Hela or reapply her seals shall receive a boon from Asgard's ruler and a honored position in the royal household}

Harry received a similar notification, but it was accompanied by the jingle of his class quest objectives updating. The current objective had changed from 'Free Hela' to 'Accept your reward." As Harry closed out the notification, Hela handed him a jeweled chest as his reward for destroying the cult of Zurrernorn. Harry quickly analyzed the chest, revealing its name of **[Treasure of Helheim]**, and stored it in his dragonhide satchel. The goddess then handed him a single piece of paper as she stepped off the throne.

"Harry Potter, Master of Death, for your actions in the nine realms I am glad to present you with the deed to this castle, and the class of **Master of Helheim**. Please continue to uphold the ideals of this world, and be wary of Odin's machinations," Hela informed him as she pushed the wizard onto the throne. Harry heard a jingle accompanied by fanfare, signaling a system notification and quest completion. Checking his status, Harry was pleased to see his class change and character information update.

{ **User Menu  
**Username: Potter3  
Class: Master of Helheim  
Job: Master of Death  
Title(s): Destroyer of Zurrernorn, Freer of Gods, Defeater of Nazarick, etc.

Pets: **[Star Devouring Worm]**}

'Player, you have freed Hela from her bonds. Odin is angry and will challenge you, but you have also received powers as a boon from the Goddess of Death,' the system notification read. Harry's new class gave him a mana boost of 5%, and complete ownership of Hela's Castle, which revealed its true name of Eljudnir. Harry compared the stats of his new home with the Tomb of Nazarick, which he had briefly controlled. The original data storage for the Tomb of Nazarick was 2250, but clearing the dungeon in a single run upgraded the storage to 2750. This was already considered massive, as the largest data storage for a guild base form a dungeon was 3000, with one such dungeon in each realm. Helheim's dungeon with this storage was the Valgrindr Catacombs, a large dungeon in the Piercing Crystal Plains on the borders of Helheim, and a pathway for the living to cross over to join the dead. Guild bases taken through hidden quests had even more potential. The only other base taken from a hidden quest was a golden palace on the outskirts of Asgard, taken by the angel guild Seraphim. The palace had a data storage of 2800. Harry's hidden class quest would have rewarded a similar abode, but he had discovered the secret ending of unsealing Hela with his pet, increasing the rewards by several times. Eljudnir had a beginning data storage of 3500, and Harry's clearing of several other strong dungeons in Helheim had increased the storage to 3750, a full 1000 greater than the base of Ainz Ooal Gown.

The data storage astounded Harry, but viewing the other information, Harry new that only 60% of the data storage could actually be used for defense. The stronghold contained several farms and research laboratories, which took up roughly 25% of the data storage. The other 15% was assigned to a mine underneath the castle and the ore processing plant attached to it. When Harry asked the guards and advisers about the mine, he discovered that it was one of seven mines that produced a prismatic ore. The prismatic ores were incredibly rare and strong materials, better than even the legendary adamantite. The mine under Eljudnir was special in that it was part of the guild base. If the castle disappeared, the ore would as well. This particular mine produced a dark shining metal known as luminite. Whereas the prismatic chlorophyte of Vanaheim was typically used for tools, luminite was useful for a wide variety of weapons and armor. Prismatic ores were also used to create one of the only World Item materials, Caloric Stone. Because of this, Harry set 30% of the luminite produced aside to be saved for Caloric Stones, while the majority would be used to outfit guards, create defenses, and research.

After establishing the rudimentary setting for Eljudnir, Harry took out the garish chest he had received as a reward for defeating the cultists of Zurrernorn. Opening the chest, the wizard received a large amount of currency and powerful items, which he sent to his new treasury. At the bottom of the chest were two monster parts, large eyes that radiated power. Analyzing the body parts, Harry reeled back in surprise.

{**[Eyes of Nazarick]**  
Will create the **[Earring of Nazarick]** when combined with five elemental materials. The jewelry will grant an incredible buff. When Hela first defeated Nazarick and banished it to the Great Tomb, she gouged out its eyes. Though the star devourer later regrew its eyes, Hela kept the original in hope to use the power they contained}

Harry quickly took some of his last legendary grade elemental materials from this world and set out to create the earrings described. He would complete this first, and then refine the prowess his new home. After a few hours, Harry returned to the throne room sporting a set of glistening ear studs. He received the buff **[Swiftness of Nazarick]**, increasing his movement speed by 10% and his resistance to crowd control abilities by 30%. Harry then equipped the unsealed **[Collar of Nazarick]**, providing another buff. **[Wisdom of Nazarick]** provided a 10% increase to offensive spell damage, and a 30% addition to spell duration. When Harry equipped the **[Grimoire of the Stars]** to get the buff **[Knowledge of Nazarick]**, a jingle resounded in his mind.

'You have equipped five legendary pieces of equipment of the divine grade set, **[Embodiment of Nazarick]**. You have received the set bonus buff, **[Destroyer of Stars]**, granting a stacked increase of 10% damage to all types, whether it be magical, physical, or other'

Receiving such a buff made Harry's eyes widen. He was curious as to the story behind Nazarick the Star Devourer's existence. What was the beast's background that Hela fought it herself? He also desired to find other pieces of the **[Embodiment of Nazarick]** set. If Hela had a body part of Nazarick, could other powerful figures have related materials? Other pieces of armor could be added to the set if Harry could find more **[Hide of Nazarick]**, and his weapons could be further upgraded with a **[Tooth of Nazarick]**. The wizard knew that he couldn't move too fast, however, and decided to establish his hold in this new life before pursuing more adventures. With this new resolve, Harry began to design new castle defenses, research the properties of luminite, and sort through the lore of different realms to plan out future adventures for incredible materials and World Items. As time went on and players advanced in Yggdrasil, Harry built up Eljudnir's defenses, and experimented with its features. He eventually was able to increase the prismatic mine's productivity several-fold, and turned the entire stronghold into a powerful and efficient base.

_Hello again! This chapter was slightly shorter than the previous few, but I'm pushing it anyway as it is the final part of the first arc. The next arc will only be about as long as this one, depicting Harry's adventures in Yggdrasil before the game shuts down and everyone is transported to New World. I enjoy reading the reviews I've gotten so far, and I appreciate all of you reading my story! Please continue to follow, and let me know if you spot anything that needs editing_


	6. Chapter 5: Slayer of Seraphim

It took nearly a month of exploring the options available to him for Harry to be comfortable with what had been done to Eljudnir. At this point the wizard knew the names of all the advisers and his honor guard. The latter had also been given priority for the new luminite equipment being made, using crafting methods Harry had passed on to the resident blacksmiths. At the end of the month, nearly a third of the guards in each shift had been outfitted with upgrades. Their old equipment was still better compared to a normal guard's, so it was passed down to the captains on the exterior walls. Every upgrade increased morale for the soldiers, and the temptation of learning incredible forging methods and working with rare material brought many more blacksmiths to the stronghold. The guilds had yet to notice the activity in Eljudnir, as only a few knew its location and none of those few knew ownership of the castle had changed hands.

With 30% of the luminite being set aside into a heavily warded warehouse, Harry was expecting a** [Caloric Stone]** to appear soon. The process involved leaving prismatic metals in close vicinity to each other, and they would naturally combine when a certain amount were in the same area. The wizard planned to combine the World Item with the mech he had used to fight the raid boss Nazarick. It would increase the power of the mech by a significant amount, especially now that Harry had been able to fix the issues from the prototype. This mech would undoubtedly be an important part of the Master of Death's arsenal.

Aside from exploring the uses of luminite, Harry had begun to prepare a to-do list regarding adventures he had planned. Talking to the advisers had given him many clues towards discovering additional World Items, as well as other rare artifacts and special items. One of the special items apparently could increase the average level of Eljudnir's guards by 5 without additional data storage costs, an incredible power for any guild base. The next realm Harry wanted to explore was Nidavellir, the home of Yggdrassil's dwarven race. The NPC blacksmiths in this realm were known for creating incredibly powerful artifacts and equipment, and several of the more influential figures had even created World Items. Harry had already created a small amount of items on par and above the World Items of Yggdrasil, including the Philosopher's Crystal, but learning a new crafting method and combining it with his millennia of experience was enticing.

In between sessions spent creating future plans and upgrading defenses, the wizard explored his limits in interacting with 'The System.' Harry had already familiarized himself with the system notifications, the quest system, and the auction house. These processes could be done by directing his thoughts, though Harry was attempting to create a visual system like every real player had. The issue was limiting the visual to show foreign mental presences, instead of displaying everything that went through his head. Showing your every thought wasn't a great idea when you had as many secrets as the immortal Master of Death. The project was making progress, however, and Harry had managed to create a rudimentary HUD with status bars and buff lists. The display even had a miniaturized Marauder's Map showing everywhere Harry had discovered. It didn't show many secret tunnels as the wizard hadn't bothered to add many detection spells, but it was still incredibly useful.

Learning the tier system of Yggdrasil's magic was also high up on Harry's to-do list. Anything below a seventh level spell Harry considered useless, as he had encountered dozens of identical pieces of magic across his many lives. However, he still learned every charm, curse, and enchantment he could to be able to reverse engineer the system, his goal to eventually create the super-tier spells that were so enticing. A few magics had caught the wizard's eye.** [Gate]** and** [Teleportation] **were interesting, as each universe's transportation magic tended to be unblockable in a different universe. The 7th-tier spell** [Resurrection] **was a piece of magic that Harry hadn't seen before, not for lack of searching. It would be interesting to see if the spell could be used outside of Yggdrasil. In the entire 10 tiers of spells only two pieces of magic, besides **[Resurrection]** and its upgraded forms, seemed incredibly important to Harry. The 8th tier spell **[Dimensional Lock]** was a powerful ward that blocked 70% of Harry's transportation spells, of which he had over a thousand available. Even the most powerful ward that Harry had found in another world only blocked 50% of the spells, and it took nearly five decades of tinkering to create a ward able to block 80%. If the wizard stacked his personal ward and **[Dimensional Lock]**, an estimated 95% of the spells would be blocked. Only spells that acted more as abilities were free from restrictions, such as shadow walking. The other spell that Harry found incredibly intriguing was the 9th-tier spell** [Perfectly Unknowable]**. This spell was a powerful hiding magic, and almost no other singular spells were able to block as many detection magics as well and conventional tracking. Truthfully, only the invisibility cloak truly surpassed it in stealth capabilities.

Weeks went by as both the stronghold's and Harry's power increased. Potions were made and stocked in every guardhouse, weapons were designed and distributed, and defenses were placed at strategic points. Eventually, Harry reached his limit. Staying in Eljudnir kept the wizard occupied, but the stone walls were bearing down on his psyche. Sitting on the emerald throne, Harry decided to message the undead he had met near the Tomb of Nazarick, Momonga.

"Momonga-san, how's the tomb coming along?" Harry started amicably. In the guild base of Ainz Ooal Gown, an Overlord-class undead was both shocked and happy to get a message from the mysterious player he'd encountered over a month earlier.

"Ah, Harry-san! It's good to hear from you. Letting us buy this base was incredibly generous, and the guild has worked hard to ensure we won't lose it. The six floors have already been expanded to eight, and our members are designing disastrous defenses to protect ourselves," Momonga said proudly. His fellow guild members had truly been working hard, grinding out materials and data crystals to design NPCs and deploy traps. "We've recently come into a bit more luck as well. Touch-kun discovered a horde of relatively weak ice dragons on Jotunheim, and one of our members needs to kill the beasts to class up. Enough about us though. How have you been, Harry-san?"

"That's brilliant Momonga-san. I'm happy that your guild is still growing stronger. Let me know if you need anything in particular for the Tomb or a guild member, since I have plenty of extra materials and powerful equipments I can sell," Harry said. He had been stockpiling items made from the lesser ores in Eljudnir's mine. Despite being too weak for the stronghold's guards, these weapons and armor were still good for regular players since they were relic grade or even lower legendary. "Also, since information is such an important resource, I'll buy any juicy tidbits from you. Even if I already know the information, I'll still pay you for going out of your way to tell me."

The guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown was excited. The guild had made its claim to fame as Nine's Own Goal because of their many rare items. These items had been gathered because the guild valued information above all, combining many small and obscure hints to find each artifact. They kept this information under wraps, using their image of an 'evil guild' to convince the masses that they took their equipment from overwhelming any attackers. As Momonga mentally swept through the rarer tidbits of info he'd heard, a thought popped into his boney skull. "Harry-san, there's actually something I think you'll find useful. In the Piercing Crystal Plains near our guild base, there is a mine of prismatic ore. Our guild doesn't have the time or manpower to hold and process the mine, so I can trade our map for some data crystals."

"Momonga-sama, I have a collection of 30 relic class data crystals and 20 legendary crystals. Would this be enough for the map?" The moment Momonga spoke about the prismatic mine, Harry was hooked. There were only seven prismatic mines in each realm, and the ore produced could be made into highly valued legendary grade items, and even some World Items like the **[Caloric Stone]**. If Harry could establish a presence in another luminite mine, Eljudnir's power would increase by around 10%. The large amount of rare data crystals was only his starting offer for the map, but it was already an incredible price.

If the leader of Ainz Ooal Gown had eyebrows, they would undoubtedly have been raised. To Momonga, while the prismatic ore was valuable, it's uses were limited. Even with the guild's formidable knowledge of the power of such metals, it would take nearly a year for the mine to produce value equivalent to the data crystals Harry was offering. However, Momonga was sure that Harry had a reason for paying so much for the mine's location, and he eagerly accepted the deal. The two traded, and ended their chat after a friendly goodbye.

——————————————————

The next day, several emergency reports were being made to the top brass of the leading guilds Seraphim and Trinity. Scouts watching the Tomb of Nazarick had spotted a platoon of well-outfitted NPC guards heading into the Piercing Crystal Plains. The NPC's were unfamiliar to any of the players, and even renowned information brokers couldn't give insight to their identities. Trinity and Seraphim were forced to sit back and see if the NPC's exited the icy field. Nearly a week later, another report came in.

The NPC's had been seen exiting the field, but this time were surrounding a cart of glistening metal. The information brokers had worked hard over last week and could provide information about the metal, even if the NPC's identities remained a mystery. Seraphim's leaders were roaring for battle, having discovered that the dark bars were actually a prismatic ore. The elites of the angels could fight a World Enemy to a draw using one of the guild's World Items and the players' skill, so surely a few NPC's were no trouble. The leaders of Trinity, however, had always been more inclined towards diplomacy. They ordered scouts to observe the NPC's as a team of elites was prepared to act as ambassadors. Hours later, the guards of Eljudnir halted their movements on the path back to the stronghold.

————————————————————

'Sir, our path has been blocked. It appears to be a group of angels. Please advise,' a message appeared in front of Harry. He had had a breakthrough with the spell displaying aspects of the System, and only needed to fine tune the magic for aesthetics. Reading the quick message, Harry recognized it as one of the luminite escorts. He frowned as he remembered the angels who'd attacked him at the teleportation gate, before being driven back.

'Prepare for a fight, but let them attack first. I'll be there shortly,' was the wizard's command. He used a [Mirror of Remote Viewing] dropped by a Zurrernorn cultist during his visit to Midgard. The angels' symbols matched those of the group that attacked Harry over a month ago. The Master of Death quickly grabbed his scythe, which was transformed into the** [Death Shot,** and donned his pieces of the **[Embodiment of Nazarick]** set. A** [Gate] **appeared with a burst of magic, and vanished after a lone figure walked through.

Several hundred meters above the angels and NPC escorts, well beyond the range of non-magical senses, the exit to Harry's **[Gate]** opened and closed, leaving the wizard behind. Below him, the elites of Seraphim were facing off against Eljudnir's platoon of guards. The angels made three parties of 6 players each, squaring off with the four 8-man guard squads. Although the NPCs outnumbered the players almost two to one, the angels were extraordinarily confident. Even the luster of luminite armor and weapons only incited greed instead of fear. Harry watched the dance, choosing not to interfere just yet. He was confident that with his presence none of Seraphim would get any luminite, and chose instead to use this as an opportunity to see the skills of his base's protectors.

'If they are weak, I'll have to implement training regimens. The data storage for previously trained soldiers is much greater than these guards, but sacrificing materials to train these grunts will give them the same abilities without using the storage. When two armies have similar skill, size decides,' Harry thought. After several minutes of silence, an angel yelled and charged forward. This immediately prompted their comrades to follow, creating an arrow formation to attack the luminite escorts. As soon as Seraphim made their move, an NPC soldier much better equipped than their peers began giving orders. Being a guard class, the soldiers had a defensive buff. They formed a shield wall, waiting for the angels to approach. As the first enemy reached the formation, the 32 guards moved to form a circle, trapping the members of Seraphim. The swordsmen slashed onto the elites' hastily constructed defense, breaking it easily. Not even a second after the defense was shattered, spears shot out between the sword wielders' bodies. Unable to defend, the trapped angels quickly succumbed to a vicious cycle of slashes and stabs. The three parties of Seraphim elites were too stunned to regroup, quickly losing health and disappearing into flashes of light. Harry was pleased with the guard's performance. Each of the 18 players dropped an item, and he quickly swooped down to grab the loot.

Each of the items was at least relic-grade, with several legendary pieces dropping as well. The leader of one group had even been carrying a fan made of large leaves, which had created whirlwinds whenever it was swung. The guard had been quick to adapt and it hadn't done much damage, but such an effect interested Harry, and the wizard used an analyze spell on the item.

{**[Bashōsen]**:

200 Attack

10% movement speed

10% crowd control resistance

A divine item. A fan made of banana leaves, this item can create large whirlwinds. A piece of the World Item **[Bajiaoshen]**, whose whirlwinds can blow heat away from an active volcano}

Divine items were rare in themselves, but to be a piece of a World Item meant a powerful legacy. Two World Items of Harry's had now come from Seraphim, and a third was the grimoire rewarded for the defeat of Nazarick. Soon that number would increase, as the luminite shipment that had just been defended would be combined with the pile at Eljudnir to create a **[Caloric Stone]**. The prismatic ores couldn't be teleported, so Harry hopped on the cart, deciding to go back to the stronghold with the NPC escort.

Several miles later, still an hour away from Eljudnir, Harry called for the cart to stop. He had detected another large group of players headed directly towards the luminite escort. The wizard quickly activated a portable ward stone and hid it under the piles of prismatic metal. The wards that could be imbued in such a stone were considerably weaker than full wards. At best, the shields would hold for half an hour against tier 7 spells. A single super tier spell could destroy them. Harry also had the guards ready themselves, and awaited the new group to arrive. Once the players got closer, Harry observed them.

These players weren't angels, which immediately reassured the wizard. The guild symbols were also different. Where Seraphim had golden wings and a halo, this new group had a simple triquetra. An analysis spell revealed it to be the symbol of Trinity, the number one ranked guild in Yggdrasil. Harry had heard whispers of the group, and knew that they operated under a questions first, shoot later ideology instead of the inverse that so many players held to. This last fact was enough for him to order the guards to stand down. Talking was usually a better alternative to bloodshed.

The 18-strong squadron of Trinity elites quickly caught up to the luminite escort. They held themselves in a non-threatening manner, but Harry had no doubt the players were stronger than the group from Seraphim.

"Guard-san, we are here as representatives of the Trinity guild to discuss a trade for the prismatic ores," one member stepped out and called. They were a light-skinned elf with thick blond hair done in an elegant braid. A small rapier was attached to their hip, emitting an aura on par with some of the divine grade weapons Harry had seen. Nodding internally at the elf's neutral tone and nonaggressive wording, Harry stepped off the cart and approached.

"Sirs, I am the master of these guards, and the owner of this cart of luminite. It would be a boon to trade with Trinity, but this is not the place to discuss such an affair. Simply follow us for another hour, and we shall reach my castle. There, we can continue our conversation," Harry proposed. Seraphim was undoubtedly still hanging around, and while the Master of Death wasn't afraid of the angel guild, being attacked would strain negotiations. The leaders of Trinity's group shared a silent conversation before the elf leader from earlier agreed to the idea. The envoy continued onward, rolling steadily towards Eljudnir.

Exactly as Harry had said, the luminite cart and those with it reached his base after another hour of travel. He quickly sent off the prismatic metal to the warehouse, and had the ambassadors from Trinity follow him to a conference room. Harry let the guild lead the conversation.

"Potter-sama, our initial offer is a collection of 15 legendary grade data crystals. In exchange, we'd like 20% of the mine's produce for a year," the elf in the lead announced. Harry almost scoffed at the price. While data crystals were an important resource in Yggdrasil, and this amount was great for any regular solo player, he had over ten times that amount in his treasury after a week of attacking Helheim's low level dungeons. On top of that, he had the door mural in front of the throne room to help him locate more areas, and could seal off a dungeon for crystal farming if necessary. Even divine grade data crystals had made themselves known to the Master of Helheim.

"Ambassador-san please tell me this isn't your final offer. To be honest, such a little price means nothing. At best, it can get you 20% of the prismatic ores for six weeks, not to speak of six months. Also, I won't accept more than 150 crystals total. After that point you are going to have to offer something else," Harry countered. The group of elven and human ambassadors were shocked. It had taken one of their elite groups 3 days of grinding mobs to get 15 legendary crystals, but this player had shut them down. How strong could a solo player be that not only did they scoff at such a price, but claimed the rare data crystals were a resource that would so tremendously drop in value? At this moment, the leader of Trinity's ambassadors received a message from the executives.

Harry had set up the conference room to allow a [Mirror of Remote Viewing] to see into the base. This was the only point in the stronghold that allowed such a thing, and everywhere else would appear to be covered by a thick fog. He knew when the elf leader of the player group tilted their head that they were receiving a message, and checked the wards to see that yes, a player was scrying into the conference room. When Harry closed out the system menu, the leader of the ambassador squad started talking again.

"Potter-san, our guild's financial officers want to know why you would demand such a high price. They can't see the value of prismatic ore raising to much more than half of the price you demanded, and are reluctant to pay because of this," the light skinned elf spoke. Information was power, after all, and if the number one guild could figure out what use of prismatic ore inspired a solo player to demand a minimum of 15 legendary data crystals for such a little amount, they might start building their own mines. Harry smirked at the subtle attempt, choosing to answer evasively. After all, teaching others how to create World Items wasn't in his interests.

"The mines of prismatic ore on each world are notorious for producing small amounts of metal every month, ambassador-sama. I'm sure you believe the large cart of luminite that my guards were escorting today is only such a size because it's the initial produce of a new mine, but that is not true. I have a method of increasing each mine's productivity, which is not for sale. Because of this I have researched many additional uses for the prismatic ores that increase its value several times over from your usual cost. As such, even a price like 15 rare data crystals for six weeks is low," Harry embellished. The truth of the matter was that the wizard was using mineral replenishing wards in the mines. Each ward stone decreased the time it took for ores to reappear by over 40%. This made mining a worthwhile endeavor for Eljudnir's workers.

The two groups continued to discuss prices and options for several hours. Eventually, a decision was reached. The Trinity guild was still skeptical of Harry's claims, and decided to trade information instead of the precious data crystals. They gave the wizard two maps, one for an undefined artifact on Nidavellir, and one for a third prismatic mine. The third mine was further into Helheim than even Eljudnir, and would undoubtedly be surrounded by strong monsters. On Harry's side, the prismatic mine in the Piercing Crystal Fields would set aside 30% of the unprocessed prismatic ore for 6 months. Both sides thought they were coming off much better in the deal. Trinity believed the deep areas of Helheim were too difficult for anyone to establish a presence in, and so didn't mourn the loss of the mine map. They didn't think that even with his formidable powers could the wizard hold such a place. Harry knew it would be difficult, but the temptation of more rare materials gave him a strong desire to claim the mine, even if it meant pulling out resources from other realities. Eventually the ambassadors left, and the Master of Death prepared to increase his power once more.

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_Heyo again! I am quite happy with this chapter. If you noticed my bio now has progress updates, so if I take a long time to update you can check out what's going on._

_I want to thank 0Harry.J.Potter0 in the reviews for reminding me to take a step back and proofread before posting_

_Also to those who responded to my question about Harry being OP, thanks! I am thinking its become a parallel between Momonga being OP when arriving in a new life, and Harry doing the same in his new life in Yggdrasil. And as Thristan said, just imagine how powerful Harry will be in New World!_


	7. Chapter 6: Nidavellir

Tucked into the side of a large unscalable mountain and surrounded by plains of black grass, stood a large fortress made of material darker than the night sky. It almost seemed as if a castle-shaped hole had appeared in the world. Inside this stronghold, a powerful individual was preparing to go out. The individual was the wizard Harry Potter, Master of Death and Helheim.

"Alright, Eljudnir is running smoothly. At this point, it shouldn't be troublesome if I go check out all this information I collected on Nidavellir," he muttered to himself. The prismatic ore mines had been pumping out luminite at a consistent pace, utilizing a combination of mineral restoration wards to prevent the veins from running dry. A single** [Caloric Stone]** had even been formed, which Harry quickly integrated with the mech that had been refined after the battle with Nazarick. The elite guards were equipped with luminite gear, and the lesser soldiers were being trained. The honor guard had been given Harry's first weapon prototypes using a combination of this world's blacksmithing and enchanting, and a few smithing methods he'd picked up over the years.

The wizard eventually finishing gearing up, and headed towards the teleportation gate. He wasn't worried about running into any enemies on the way there. The wild mobs were all too weak in the area to be a true threat, and the only players that attacked him regularly were members of Seraphim. The angel guild had been repeatedly beaten back by the wizard, and now had made itself scarce in Helheim after devastating losses. Momonga had actually thanked Harry for this, as Ainz Ooal Gown had been a long time enemy of Seraphim. A few minutes after departing, the Master of Death reached the teleportation gate, and quickly walked through after selecting Nidavellir as his destination.

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At the main teleportation gate in the capital city of Nidavellir, bright lights flashed regularly. Players stepped out of these lights before heading away from the gate. One such player was Harry Potter. Harry wandered the city, looking through the auction house and the information boards. Eventually, he was able to procure a map and recalled the information given to him by Trinity. The information had said that an incredible item named **[Strengr ór Sleppa]** was hidden in the inner vault of the treasury hall of an abandoned underground dwarven city. This city was known as Sindribú, and was often visited by players to grind golden golems. These golems gave double the money that usual mobs did, and dropped gold bars and nuggets when they died as well. The treasury hall, however, was a higher difficulty than the rest of the city. The platinum golem guarding it was a level 80 sub-raid boss, equivalent to one of the elemental dragons from the Tomb of Nazarick. If a squad was able to defeat the platinum golem, spider golems still waited inside. These metal spiders latched onto players and self-detonated, doing a large amount of explosive damage. While most players had high resistance to the mix of shockwave and fire, most armor lost good chunks of their durability.

Because of this lethality, most groups attacked the treasury like a dungeon, even though it technically wasn't one. The average survival time for the outer vault after entering was 20 minutes. At the point Harry arrived in Nidavellir, almost all of the outer vault's treasures had been looted. This looting didn't deter players though, and the parties began to go deeper, searching for the fabled inner vault. Only a few groups actually made it to the guardian of the inner vault, and none had passed it. The information Trinity had given Harry was all the known abilities and weaknesses of this guardian, an Adamantite Golem. Even with this information, the guild hadn't been able to defeat the mechanical being. However, Harry had confidence in himself and his abilities.

As the wizard worked his way through the city to the treasury hall, collecting the drops from the golden golems, he kept an eye out for hidden areas. Already, he'd discovered a basement with a relic-grade chest in it. The basement had a hidden door activated by arranging the logs in the hearth a particular way. Another area was a small safe under the floor in an armor shop. Harry found it because the floorboards hiding the safe had been aligned perpendicular to the rest of the floor. Eventually, the wizard reached the entrance to the outer vault of the treasury hall.

Observing from a ways away, Harry watched the actions of the platinum golem. This mechanical beast had four arms, each holding a weapon. The top two had swords, whilst the bottom two had a mace and a tower shield. A player group fighting the golem could be seen as well. The mages bombarded the creature almost exclusively with ice spells, only alternating with the occasional high powered flame spell. The front line fighters all used blunt weapons or spears, and the ranger was using a huge bow with blunt-end arrows. This style of fighting was typical because the golem had a weakness to ice, and a ridiculously high resistance to piercing damage and most other elements. Fire was the only other element that could deal full damage, but this only applied for instant damage. Damage over time, or DOT, effects failed to apply because while the metal melted easily enough, it couldn't burn.

As Harry watched, the player group whittled down the health of the guardian construct. The occasional golden golem would happen to walk by and join the fight, but they were easily dispatched by the party before attention returned to boss in front. Soon enough, the platinum robot was destroyed, collapsing into a heap of scrap metal and spare parts. The party cheered and entered the outer vault, an invisible Harry following them.

The Master of Helheim quickly split off from this group once inside, following the map to the gate of the inner vault. After nearly an hour of exploration and defending against exploding spiders, he reached his destination. A pair of gates made from glowing silver-white mithril were guarded by a red golem twice as tall as the platinum golem outside. This was the legendary Adamantite Golem, a so-far undefeated entity.

Pulling out a small figurine, Harry prepared himself to fight. This statue was the refined mech mixed with a **[Caloric Stone]**. The newly improved mech was at least twice as strong as the prototype that had fought Nazarick, and the Adamantine Golem was only half as strong as the worm-like raid boss. Needless to say, Harry had high expectations for the upcoming battle.

The wizard enlarged and entered the robotic exo-suit. The armor was streamlined, with red lettering on the side. This lettering was the name of the mech:** [Wrath Mk. III]**. Soon, Harry and his mech stood face to face with the mechanical guard. Explosions and the ringing of metal could be heard throughout the entirety of the outer vault for a long few minutes. Eventually the sounds died down, leaving only the noises of clicking spider golems and exploring player groups.

Back at the mithril gate, Harry stood in front of a pile of the golem's remains.** [Wrath Mk. III] **was tucked back into the dragonhide satchel, along with the adamantite ingotd that were dropped. Currently, Harry was analyzing a blue colored Unique Data Crystal called the** [Personality Core: Gamma]**.

{**[Personality Core: Gamma]**:

Cost:

• 55 Data Storage (Base)

-or-

• 25 Relic Data Crystals (Companion)

A Unique Data Crystal rewarded for being the first to defeat the Adamantite Golem. Constructs infused with this data crystal will display an option menu for AI personality instead of a coding window. The subject will also be given level 85 skills with a chosen weapon, and strong guarding abilities}

To most players, this data crystal would be mostly useless. Constructs required an intricate understanding of blacksmithing and engineering to create. The largest drawback was that these mechanical creatures didn't have an experience bar, preventing strength increases from defeating enemies and instead requiring expensive materials to be built into it. This drawback was also the largest benefit as well, in that the being didn't have health or mana. Instead, they would live until their body was destroyed and attack until they ran out of ammo or pre-loaded mana crystals. They also had almost no upkeep cost. However, almost no players had the abilities to make any golems stronger than a level 30 NPC. Unlike these players, Harry had the necessary skills and an already made mech that was estimated to be the equivalent of a level 100 player with an outfit of legendary-grade gear and no pieces of divine-grade equipment.

Harry quickly decided that using the power core with the mech was a fantastic idea. Having an intelligent companion that could easily kill most players in this world would spare him the annoyance of dealing with the weaker masses. The wizard began the process of integrating the mech with the crystal. He chose a pre-made personality with the label 'Tenacious, Cunning' and watched as the mech booted up. Soon, a fully autonomous humanoid mech suit was standing next to Harry. A few edits had been made to the chassis, with the label now reading **[Wrath Mk. IV]**.

"Master, I thank you for bringing me to life. Your enemies will be my enemies, and I shall serve you until death or deactivation," the mech ground out. It had a trace of a masculine accent, a curious mix between Harry's own British that he'd never gotten rid of, and authentic Earth Australian. Harry nodded happily to the robot's words. He'd often had companions in his adventures, including a house elf grandson of Dobby and Winky's at one point. AI's were the longest lasting, usually accompanying him until they were destroyed in the reincarnation process or they gained a physical body and joined the ranks of Death's Reapers. An AI created from magic in a technological body was a completely new experience to the Master of Death, even if it was from a video game system.

After finalizing Wrath's settings, Harry turned his attention back to the shining mithril gates. A simple alohomora later, and he had entered the inner vault. As Harry entered the shining golden room, he received a system message.

'You have entered the Inner Vault of Sindríbu. Shining piles of gold and artifacts appear glitter ahead. You notice a plaque next to the door. It reads:

_Heed the warning of the ancients_

_Lead yourself to the path of patience_

_Greed will make death your acquaintance_'

The rhyme reminded Harry of the warning on the doors of Gringotts. He knew that this warning wouldn't show up for no reason, and carefully stepped into the vault. Watching closely for traps and hidden mechanisms, the wizard made his way to a floating dagger at the end of the displays. The glowing green weapon matched the description of the** [Strengr ór Sleppa]** that Harry had been looking for. However, approaching the knife caused Harry to gasp in surprise. At the base of the pedestal was a sleeping woman: Hel, whom the wizard had freed nearly three months previous.

Harry cast several diagnostic and analyzing spells around the area before beginning to assess the goddess' condition. She was under the effects of a tier 7 curse, _[Slumber of Avarice]_. This curse was a ward system, causing anyone planning to steal whatever was inside the ward to fall into a deep sleep when they came in contact with it. Harry quickly pulled Hel's body back before casting a counter curse. The goddess awoke a few seconds later.

"Oh, Master, thank you for saving me," Hel said, embarrassed. She told Harry her story: "I had visited Niflheim after you freed me, and found my brother Fenrir. He was trapped by an unbreakable silk cord, the legendary **[Gleipnir]**. The only thing that can destroy it is this dagger. Please, Harry, won't you help me?"

Harry was enraged. In his several millennia of existence, including his very first life, child abuse had a presence. Even if it didn't pertain to him personally, he usually only had to look as far as a neighbor's kids to find evidence of the acts. Several cases of parenting had also given him his own experience in the field of child rearing. Odin had made it to the top 10 of Harry's enemy list, easily number one in this life.

"Hel, you don't need to worry. I will help you free Fenrir. Let's grab this dagger and get out of here," the Master of Helheim stated. He summoned Wrath from the dragonhide bag, enlarging the figurine. "Wrath, grab **[Strengr ór Sleppa]**," he commanded.

The mech easily complied, taking the dagger and handing it to it's master. Since the magical AI was a machine, it couldn't sleep anyway and the _[Slumber of Avarice] _didn't affect it. Harry stuffed the dagger in the dragonhide bag, grabbed Hel's hand, and ran from the inner vault. After escaping, the wizard noticed a new quest notification.

{Hidden Quest - Hel's Family 1: Fenrir

Difficulty: SS (Level 90)

Objectives:

• Aid Hel in Sindríbu

• Obtain** [Strengr ór Sleppa]**

• Free Fenrir

\- or -

• Inform Odin of Hel's plans

After being trapped in Helheim for millennia, Hel Lokidottir misses her family. Help her to reunite with her loved ones. You have found the goddess of death in the treasure hall of Sindríbu. She seeks to use an artifact to free her brother Fenrir from his dwarven bindings. Obtain the artifact and either use it to free Fenrir, or inform Odin Allfather of Hel's plans to get back into his good graces}

———————————

A week later, in the capital city of Nidavellir, two figures walked towards the teleportation gate.

"Alright Hel, we have all the tools and equipment we need for exploring Niflheim and crossing the lake of Amsvartnir to reach the island of Lyngvi and Fenrir. We also have **[Strengr ór Sleppa] **to break **[Gleipnir]**, and some healing and pain potions prepared for removing the sword in his mouth," one of the figures, Harry Potter, listed off. He continued to check through a scale satchel at his side, ensuring that everything needed was packed. After doing so, he stepped up to the teleportation gate with his companion. "We will save him, Hel, don't worry."

With this final round of reassurances, the duo disappeared into flashes of light.

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_Review Responses:_

_To Overlard: Thanks for clarifying some pieces of norse mythos vs marvel comics. Wikipedia got me fucked up, esp because ive been focusing on basically every other part of norse mythos for equipment and fenrir. I'm still goong to keep Hel as Lokidottir for plot reasons._

_To LMaltez: Player interactions will be a large part of Arc 2.5, starting in Chapter 8: Ragnarok. For now its mostly AI interactions for Harry._

_To jharrel819: Equipment and memories will be the main method of referencing other fandoms. For example, the [Death Gun] uses mats from Monster Hunter: World, and Luminite is from Terraria, if anyone caught that. Avengers won't actually be referenced beyond using some of their norse family trees because I plan to use the marvel universe, 90% mcu, for the second story in this series. Planned quote for HP though inreference to traveling to New World: "I hate time travel. When I was 13 i almost created my first paradox, though luckily I was able to put that off until I was almost 400 during a fling with a guy who had no eyebrows."_


	8. Chapter 7: Niflheim

The nine realms of Yggdrasil were comprised of three layers of three worlds each. The top layer was made of Asgard, world of the Æsir, Múspellheim, world of the fire giants, and Jotunheim, world of the ice giants. Most powerful NPC figures originated from these worlds, and players from larger humanoid races started here. The middle layer was the typical starting layer for humans and most humanoids. The realms here were Midgard, world of the humans, Álfheim, world of the light elves, and Vanaheim, world of the Vanir. The lower layer was the starting areas for heteromorphic creatures, and a few dark-dwelling humanoids. The realms were Niflheim, Nidavellir, and Helheim. Niflheim used to be the home of the ice giants, before it became uninhabitable due to the aftermath of war. Now it was a frozen wasteland, with only a few established cities and villages dotted around. Nidavellir was the most thriving of the three lower realms, as the home of the dwarves. The legendary craftsmen brought commerce and established a healthy society in this world of eternal darkness. Helheim had no cities of villages whatsoever. Here, only monsters and the dead thrived. The only living who made a home in this realm did so for the higher average quality of guild bases, or because of Eljudnir. Eljudnir was the former castle of Hela, and had become an even more powerful stronghold and home to refugees under the rule of the Master of Death.

Since arriving in the world of Yggdrasil, Harry usually bummed around the bottom layer. He had only visited the other layers to view auction houses, or for the one meeting he had with Trinity about the luminite mines. Today, the Master and the Goddess of Death were exploring the gate zone on Niflheim. They weren't just visiting, however. Harry had received a quest to help Hel free Fenrir from the bonds of [Gleipnir] using the artifact they had picked up from Nidavellir. The duo searched the town, hoping to find information relating to the quest.

After several hours, Harry and Hel walked out of the town holding a map. Calling it a map was doing a disservice to true charts, as the paper was simply a dot surrounded by wavy scribbles and a few landmark indicators. However, with his Marauder's Minimap, Harry was able to accurately follow the scribbles until he spotted a dot labelled 'Fenrir,' and using that as a marker for the rest of the journey. Eventually, he and the goddess reached the bank of Amsvartnir, a fog covered lake containing the island which Fenrir was trapped on.

The two beings of immense power simply froze the water into a serviceable ice bridge before crossing the lake in quick strides. What greeted them was a gruesome sight; The large wolf, similar in size to a minivan, was laying on the ground with its eyes closed and its mouth open. A sword covered in blood-red runes had been shoved through the wolf's jaw and into the ground, cruelly pinning the beast. The gold and red ribbon [Gleipnir] looped over Fenrir's body and around his legs, preventing more than minuscule movement. After observing from afar for a while, Hel approached her brother while Harry inspected the bonds more closely.

"Fen, it's me!" The goddess whisper-shouted as she shook the wolf. "I've brought a friend who will free you. Just sit tight and we'll be out of here in no time."

Fenrir cracked an eye open and whimpered pitifully around the sword. Seeing this, Harry pulled Hel aside for a quick word.

"Hel, we need to do this carefully. I need you to keep Fenrir calm as I pull out the sword," Harry stated gravely. "He's going to be in a lot of pain, and I can't do much for him if he's bit my wand arm off."

Hel nodded seriously and approached her bound brother. She whispered comforting nonsense as Harry prepared for an undoubtedly dangerous operation. The wizard grabbed the sword, and in one swift motion, pulled it out from Fenrir's jaw while replacing it with a small packet. As soon as the sword was freed, the wolf roared and gnashed its teeth. By doing this, he unwittingly swallowed the packet, and soon fell into a near unnatural calm.

"Alright Hel, the worst part is over and I've given him a heavy dose of calming draught," Harry said as he began casting diagnostic and healing spells. The results came back as unsurprising malnourishment, and the lacerations stab wound quickly disappeared. After finishing with the treatment, the wizard pulled out a glowing green dagger and cut the dwarven ribbon at its equivalent of the Gordian knot. Harry stashed the remains before turning to his goddess friend. "Alright Hel, he should be good to go. If you'd like to come back to Eljudnir and rest up, you're always welcome."

As the Master of Death said this, a quest notification popped in his head.

{Hidden Quest - Hela's Family 1: Fenrir

Difficulty: SS (Level 90+)

Objectives:

• Aid Hela in Sindríbu

• Obtain [Strengr ór Sleppa]

• Free Fenrir

\- or -

• Inform Odin of Hela's plans

• Go to Hel after (3) days to receive your reward

After being trapped in Helheim for millennia, Hela Lokidottir misses her family. Help her to reunite with her loved ones. You have found the goddess of death in the treasure hall of Sindríbu. She seeks to use an artifact to free her brother Fenrir from his dwarven bindings. After retrieving the artifact, you have freed Fenrir and reunited the siblings. This is a marker for the Ragnarök game event. Hel needs some time to bond with her brother, but will remember your benevolence and reward you. Beware Odin's wrath in the future!}

Life would undoubtedly become more hectic in the near future, but Harry was confident that the situation wouldn't shake him.

The next morning, though it was hard to tell the time due to the lower realms' eternal darkness, two humanoid figures and an extremely large wolf exited Helheim's teleportation matrix. The trio quickly walked along a familiar path towards the deeper parts of the realm.

"Hel, Fenrir, we should reach Eljudnir within a few hours. I've already informed the guards to expect us, and the servants will have rooms and a hot meal prepared. You are both welcome to stay as long as you need; I'd like to show off some of the improvements to you anyway, Hel," Harry said excitedly. The castle had truly come along nicely in the past few months, with a total of three luminite mines and an NPC guild branch for each minor profession. Amongst the blacksmiths especially, Eljudnir had become known as a golden opportunity to learn new skills and techniques, due to Harry providing textbooks of some methods he'd picked up over the millennia he'd lived.

Beyond just providing opportunities to learn and expand professions, the wizard had also started several projects to increase the quality of life for the heteromorphic and lesser humanoid races in the area. The original small village had been expanded into a good-sized town and was still growing slowly. Just the guarding and jobs related to luminite alone provided jobs for more than half the population. Visiting players were seen regularly in the stronghold; the auction house of Helheim had finally been established when the NPC population requirements were met, providing a main hub on the realm for heteromorphic players to learn minor professions and make money without going off-world. This also led to a rise in players choosing heteromorphic players, as the main argument against the races was a difficult early-game period.

Because of this recent development, the trio saw large amounts of carts regularly moving in and out of the stronghold gates as they approached. Hel was very appreciative of what Harry had done for her people, and knew that she had made the right choice to hand over the Master of Helheim title to him. Fenrir's presence caused players to give the group a wide berth as the approached the gates. A group of guards quickly surrounded and escorted them to the main castle. Fenrir and Hel were given neighboring rooms in the 'Family and Friends' wing, while Harry went to the joined treasury/personal workshop to deposit [Wrath Mk. IV], [Strengr ór Sleppa], and the other loot he'd grabbed over the last few days. Afterwards, he headed to the throne room to receive visitors and meet with foreign ambassadors.

Several hours later, the wizard tiredly stumbled into the master bedroom and flopped into bed. Before he could fully drift off, however, there was knock on the door. Sitting up and ensuring he was presentable, Harry called for whoever was outside to enter.

"Master, I wanted to thank you again for helping me free my brother. Fenrir and I have been close since we were small," Hel said as she walked in. Approaching Harry, she handed him a small piece of glass on a chain. "I have had this little trinket with me for a long while; I don't need it anymore, but you should get some use out of it. Thank you again," she explained, before leaving and shutting the door quietly.

Harry inspected the piece of glass, and was shocked when the results came back.

{[Death's Eye]:

+15 Perception

A piece of an unknown gem from the deepest pits of Tartarus, threaded on the first [Lifeline] created by the goddess Hel. Provides the ability of [True Sight], allowing the wearer to see through all deceptions below a World Item level}

While world items could still be disguised from the artifact, it would combine well with the Marauders Minimap to help Harry find hidden areas and unearth secrets. Even the most common of magical items that were hidden in such places would be a cut above the rest. After playing around with the necklace for a while longer, Harry put it to the side and went to bed, vowing to utilize it in the morning.

It was a week before another significant event happened in Eljudnir. The Master of Death had been receiving visitors in the throne room when a particularly haughty aesir appeared. The buff warrior had ignored all etiquette that other dignitaries had presented, choosing instead to look upon the throne room with disdain.

"What reason do you have for visiting, sir Asgardian?" Harry asked with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. While the wizard had plenty of experience with people disrespecting him and underestimating his abilities, he was currently sitting on a throne in his castle. The situation warranted a certain degree of respect from even fellow rulers, much less an unknown aesir. As Harry wondered how to deal with the situation, the Asgardian began to speak.

"Odin All-Father has declared that Hel Lokidottir and Fenrir Lokison are to be brought before him," the dignitary began. Harry could tell that the summons wasn't going to lead to anything good and cut the man off before he could continue.

"And what reason does the ruler of Asgard have to request the presence of two of my citizens? The realm of Helheim has not sworn fealty to Odin, and does not follow his laws."

"Hel has illegally freed the beast Fenrir from his prison, and as such both have been labelled as criminals. If the two are not presented to Asgard within a fortnight, Odin will summon the einherjar and hunt down the abominations. Choose your path wisely, false ruler, lest you be hunted with them."

The Master of Death snorted at this proclamation; being hunted was the last thing he needed to worry about. With a single hand motion, luminite-clad guards surrounded the haughty aesir and forcefully escorted him out of the stronghold. As the man's shouts about criminals and fools faded out, Harry continued to meet with visitors.

A few hours later, Harry, Hel, and Fenrir were seated around a small table in one of the antechambers of Harry's suite. They had been discussing how to respond to Odin's demands. Submitting to the All-Father was out of the question. The Asgardian Armies would undoubtedly march on Eljudnir sooner or later. The stronghold had become too powerful for Odin to leave them to grow unchecked, and this situation just gave the king an opportunity to pressure Helheim.

If the war was fought with just NPC's and Harry, then then Helheim would be able to defend themselves. However, such an event would involve players. It would become a battlefield for the humanoid races to battle the heteromorphic races. Ainz Ooal Gown and Seraphim would be involved due to their long-standing feud. Others would rally behind the flags of these two popular guilds for this fight, unless another monstrosity like Trinity got involved. However, Trinity had a history of remaining neutral regarding Game Events. Their players chose sides on an individual basis, with the results deciding inner-guild power struggles.

Harry was hoping to establish agreements with a few other guilds, such as the Mercenary Magicians Guild. The group of level 100 magicians would be a force to be reckoned with on the field, and Harry was hoping to exchange a few sets of luminite gear for their help. The luminite equipment had a particularly potent effect on boosting magical abilities. The destructive power these magicians could wield would provide a significant boost to Eljudnir's defenses.

The trio continued to discuss options for a while longer before an idea came up – Jormungandr. The world-serpent would likely agree to help his siblings against Odin. With such a powerful being's help, Helheim would be able to withstand almost anything that Asgard threw at them. The trio decided they would head to Midgard to seek out the beast the next day.

On October 31, 2131, over five years after the VRMMO Yggdrasil launched, a dark-haired figure, flanked by a little girl and a giant wolf, picked up a snake from a beach on Midgard. The snake was the transformed version of Jorgunmandr, the Midgard World Serpent and brother to Hel and Fenrir. At the same moment that these four figures gathered together, every player online on Yggdrasil's servers received the same pop-up. The single line in the golden window would cause havoc for another half-year. The line read:

[System Notification: Ragnarök has begun]

Author's Note:

To KrisB-71854: I've thought about how Game-Hel should acknowledge Harry as the MOD. In the end, I decided to go with the idea that nothing can escape Death, and so everything can sense it and knows it. It's just that Hel as a goddess of death, even as AI, has a stronger connection than most. In regard to the prismatic ores, everyone knows they have value, but most just think it's for weapons and armor and believe Harry is trying to build up guild forces with it, so they agree to sell info for a decent price. The guilds selling info just think he has some method for easier mining that they won't be able to force out of him.

To Lonely Samurai: Harry gaining NPC's will start with Wrath and evolve from there. Job Specialization is a great idea though, and I'll keep it in mind.

To Guest about guilds: I'm playing on the fact that Harry is considered a special case by the system and so he can use the guild base without having an actual guild to claim it.

To Guest about pairings: Harry is mostly A-everything after several millennia and considers any version of Hel as a little sister.

To Guest about Hedwig AI: Probably combining with Lonely Samurai's idea.

To ReaperofThings2002: YES Harry is definitely dragon-like in his hoarding; that was actually one of my ideas for an animagus form!

To several people about NEW WORLD: Yes, more people will be transferred over than in the original Overlord anime/web novel. No spoilers!


End file.
